In a recently completed survey by text of voters in Fulton County, Fulton County Chief Magistrate Judge Cassandra Kirk’s approval rating exceeded 70%. Kirk, whose job approval rating was 74.6% (which is far higher than the national average of elected judicial positions), has served as the Chief Magistrate Judge of Georgia’s largest county since 2014 and was successfully elected in 2018. The approval rating shows a slight improvement over the 2018 election when she received 73% support from voters. The survey, conducted by pollster and political consultant Fredrick Hicks of HEG, LLC, was completed on January 18, 2022. Data was collected by responses via text to persons who are registered to vote in Fulton County.
“Chief Judge Kirk’s position in our survey is not surprising. She was successfully elected in 2018 and has guided the office through the tumultuous pandemic in such a way that worked for all stakeholders, including those who are usually at odds,” said HEG CEO and founder Fredrick Hicks. “We partnered with Judge Kirk’s office early in the pandemic to provide information to residents about housing options. Her office continued community outreach and partnerships and this survey reflects the success of that work.”
The survey is the first text only survey conducted by HEG. CEO Hicks said of the data collection method, “Accuracy is everything in polling. Data collection is increasingly difficult as people are active across platforms and migrating away from landline telephones. As a firm we continuously test different data collection techniques in an effort to get the best read possible. I am confident in these findings as they closely track the most important political survey, actual election results. Chief Judge Kirk received 73% of the vote in 2018 and her office has become more visible and, due to the pandemic, increasingly central to the daily lives of Fulton County residents, so I would expect similar findings.”
Other key findings include:
• Nearly four times as many Fulton County voters feel their local government is performing better than the state government (39.5% for the county versus 10% for the state).
