Meet Phil Rubin. A Georgia voter. CEO of the PR firm rDialogue. What does this Georgia businessman find most important to a race? It’s not the emotionally-charged rhetoric or rigid party ideology. It’s a willingness to reach across party lines and better the community as a whole. It’s an emphasis on the issue that will impact a diverse group of people — education. 

“Education is sorely lacking at all levels in Georgia due to a reduction in funding, and the only way people are going to be more successful is with education. The more there is success and prosperity for more people, the more that will be better for business”, Rubin says.

Michelle Nunn, the Democratic candidate, writes on her campaign website that an emphasis on education will help employers to find workers who are “highly skilled and able to think critically and creatively”. Nunn supports the Common Core, an education program designed by governors from 48 states to outline the requirements of public schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. But what should the requirements be after high school? “I support the recent action by Congress to keep student loan interest rates low but more needs to be done. [We need to] keep costs down and offer generous financial aid”.

Republican candidate David Perdue has a different feeling about the Common Core. Perdue believes that the Common Core should be abandoned because it’s “one in a long line attempts to federalize education”, an idea he expressed in an interview with Georgia Public Broadcasting radio host Bill Nigut. So how does he feel education in Georgia could be improved? “The best decisions that produce the best results for students is made at the local level. And I think we need to push as much of that money back to the local school systems as we can.”

With such contrasting ideas on the issue of education, it would be easy to see how Georgia voters might split their vote based solely on this one topic. 

As of September 12th, the Atlanta-Journal Constitution shows Perdue with 45 percent of the votes, and Nunn with 41 percent. But there continue to be polls that show the opposite results; Nunn leads Perdue 46 to 43 in a poll released by Landmark Communications.

Rubin says the polls may not show people’s true opinions about the candidates. “Some of it could be on the merits of their values, but some of it could just be on voters wanting to see change. In other words, are they voting for candidates or simply removing the incumbents from office because they’ve been so ineffective at governing?”

Nunn is still holding on to the lead in some polls, and only trailing by a few points in the polls where Perdue is leading — could Georgia see a shift from its incumbent Republican party ideology? Jamie Carson, a Political Science professor at the University of Georgia doesn’t believe that change will come any time soon. 

“Even if Nunn were somehow able to pull off the upset in the upcoming election (which is not all that likely), that one election alone would not be sufficient to switch the state. Georgia may be moving in that direction, but it may be several elections before the effects are fully realized across the board.”

Contact Staff Reporter Abby Flaxer here.