Former President Donald Trump leads President Biden with just over 50% support in Georgia, a state Biden won by less than 1 point in 2020.

That’s according to a Fox News survey of Georgia registered voters released Thursday.

Just over half of Peach State voters, 51%, say they would support Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head rematch, while 43% say they’d go for Biden. That puts Trump ahead by 8 points, outside the poll’s margin of sampling error.

Eight in 10 Georgians (78%) say they are extremely or very interested in the race and the vote breakdown among this subgroup is similar: 52% would go for Trump and 43% Biden.

Trump receives strong support from his base, including White evangelicals (85%), conservatives (76%), White voters without a college degree (74%) and rural voters (67%). For Biden, it’s liberals (87%), Black voters (71%), voters with a college degree (52%) and suburban women (52%).

Democrats and Republicans are equally likely to support their respective candidates (91% each) while independents go for Trump by 20 points (51%-31%). It also helps Trump that more Republicans (83%) than Democrats (78%) are interested in the election. 

Biden is taking a hit with younger voters as those under age 35 go for Trump by 7 points.

A majority says Biden was legitimately elected in 2020 (60%), yet over 2 in 10 (22%) of that subgroup would vote for Trump in 2024. About a third (32%) believe Biden’s victory was suspect, and they overwhelmingly go for the former president (97% Trump).

‘Given that the Democrats won major U.S. Senate races in 2020 and 2022, Trump’s strength in this poll is somewhat surprising,’ says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. ‘We can blather on (correctly) about how ‘anything can happen,’ but the reality is Biden may want to shift his focus and precious resources away from Georgia and onto other potential battleground states, such as North Carolina.’

In a potential five-way race, Trump still leads the pack, but both the former president and current incumbent lose support to third-party candidates: Trump gets 45%, while Biden drops to 37% support. Other candidates receive a total of 12% support: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (8%), Cornel West (3%) and Jill Stein (1%).

The survey tested another hypothetical five-way race, which substitutes Nikki Haley for Trump. In this case, third-party candidates help Biden and hurt Haley. Biden comes out on top by 6 points with 35% support among Georgians, followed by Haley at 29%, Kennedy at 18%, West at 3% and Stein at 1%.

Where do Trump supporters go in this scenario? Just 46% would back Haley, while 31% would vote third-party, 6% wouldn’t cast a ballot at all and 13% are undecided. Haley gets over 50% support among registered Republicans (52%), but nowhere near the 83% Trump garners in his five-way race.

Independents splinter when it comes to Haley — 20% back her, while 22% would go for Biden and a larger share, 30%, for Kennedy. By comparison, Trump receives 34% support among independent Georgia voters vs. 21% for Biden and 17% for Kennedy.

The economy is the top issue nationally, and it’s no different in Georgia as 44% feel they are falling behind financially (43% say they’re holding steady and 12% say they are getting ahead).

When asked the most important issue in deciding their vote this November, 62% say the economy is extremely important, followed by election integrity (53%), health care (51%) and immigration/border security (46%). Abortion comes in at 40%, while all other issues fall under 30%: the Israel-Hamas war (28%), climate change (27%) and the Ukraine-Russia war (23%).

Trump comes out on top on most issues. More Georgia voters trust Trump than Biden to handle immigration/border security (+21 Trump better to handle), the economy (+18), Israel-Hamas (+15) and Ukraine-Russia (+11). Voters are split on health care (+2 Trump), election integrity (+1 Trump) and abortion (even). The only issue where Biden comes out on top is climate change (+5 Biden).

‘The coalition that gave Biden a slim victory in 2020 is in need of reassembly and that may be harder to do this time,’ says Anderson. ‘On the crucial issues of the border and the economy, Georgia voters think Trump is significantly better — Biden will need to make inroads on these issues to win Georgia again.’

Another topic surrounding the presidential candidates is their mental acuity and more voters are extremely or very concerned about Biden’s mental soundness (65% concerned) than they are Trump’s (51%).

Biden’s job ratings are on par with his national ratings, which are underwater: 41% approve vs. 58% disapprove in Georgia.

Georgia voters are ready for change — a lot of it. Nearly 8 in 10 want either a lot (50%) or radical (29%) change in how the country is run, while 2 in 10 say a little (17%) or no change (3%) is necessary.

Trump wins among those who want at least a lot of change, while Biden wins among the remainder. 

Conducted Jan. 26-30 under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with a sample of 1,119 Georgia registered voters randomly selected from a statewide voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (200) and cellphones (649) or completed the survey online after receiving a text message (270). Results based on the full sample have a margin of sampling error of ±3 percentage points. When necessary, weights are generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics of survey respondents are representative of the registered voter population.

The U.S. State Department announced Thursday that it was imposing financial sanctions against four Israelis, after they allegedly contributed to violence and instability in the West Bank.

The announcement came hours after President Biden issued an executive order giving the U.S. the authority to impose financial sanctions against any foreign person who acts to threaten peace, security or stability in the West Bank.

‘The State Department is today imposing financial sanctions on four Israeli nationals for their destabilizing acts in the West Bank,’ State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said during a press briefing. ‘Today’s action falls on the steps we took in December to impose visa restrictions on dozens of individuals for…contributing to violence and instability in the West Bank.’

Biden imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers Thursday in the West Bank, after a 17-year-old American citizen was shot and killed there in January.

An announcement from the White House on the executive order states, ‘extremist settler violence’ reached record levels in the West Bank in 2023. The sanctions will ban dozens of settlers and their families from traveling to or conducting business in the U.S.

Biden’s order applies to settlers who make ‘acts or threats of violence against civilians, intimidate civilians to cause them to leave their homes, destroy or seize property, or engage in terrorist activity in the West Bank.’

The action came after 17-year-old Abedel Jabbar, a U.S. citizen, was allegedly shot and killed by an Israeli settler while visiting the West Bank in January. Jabbar’s family said he was visiting the area to learn more about his Palestinian heritage.

‘There is no justification for extremist violence against civilians, whatever their national origin, ethnicity, or religion,’ Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

The four individuals who the U.S. imposed financial sanctions against are David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil, Shalom Zicherman, and Yinon Levi.

The State Department said Chasdai initiated and led a riot that involved setting vehicles and buildings on fire, assaulting Palestinian civilians, and damaging a property in Huwara, which resulted in the death of a Palestinian civilian.

Tanjil, the State Department said, participated in assaulting Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists by attacking them with stones and clubs, causing injuries that required medical treatment.

Zicherman was seen on video assaulting Israeli activists and their vehicles in the West Bank, blocking them on the street. He also tried to break windows of vehicles passing by with activists inside, the State Department noted, adding that Zicherman cornered at least two activists and injured them both.

Levi is accused of leading a group of settlers who created fear in the West Bank. The State Department also said Levi led settlers from the Meitarim Farm outpost, who assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, threatened them with additional violence if they did not leave their homes, set fire to their fields and destroyed their property.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office issued a statement on the sanctions.

‘The absolute majority of the settlers in the West Bank are law-abiding citizens, many of whom are currently taking part in Israel’s defense,’ he said. ‘Israel acts against anyone who breaks the law. Therefore, no room for exceptional measures in this regard.’

Netanyahu’s finance minister, Benjamin Smotrich, called the accusations of violence by settlers an ‘antisemitic lie,’ and added that settlements in the region will continue.

‘If the price is the imposition of American sanctions on me — so be it,’ Smotrich said.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

A group of Republican senators are demanding that the Federal Bureau of Investigation ‘repair the damage’ to its credibility after a series of errors surrounding the origin of the anti-Catholic memo that targeted traditional Catholics as potential ‘terrorists.’

The memo, which has since been retracted by its creators in the FBI Richmond field office, was a focus in congressional oversight action and hearings last year and garnered significant criticism by Republican lawmakers. 

In a letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and 14 of their colleagues, demanded FBI Director Christopher Wray give a ‘coherent and complete response’ to the Senate after its apparent failures in reviewing how the memo was ever created and the agency’s compliance with congressional oversight on the matter. 

‘We are writing about the FBI’s failure to provide information requested by members relating to the now infamous Richmond memo while misleading this body with what little information it did provide,’ the senators wrote. 

‘We recently also learned that the FBI permanently deleted critical records related to the memo, and one of the authors of the Richmond memo prepared a second, external report in coordination with headquarters that was intended to be circulated outside the Richmond office to the full FBI,’ they said. 

According to the lawmakers, the FBI ‘for months used its internal review of the Richmond memo as an excuse not to provide records or respond to members’ questions.’

‘Despite the completion of what we now know was a very narrow internal review, limited to only certain aspects of this single internal analyst report, FBI has repeatedly ignored member requests for records that would enable Congress to conduct its own investigation. This includes FBI’s repeated failure to fulfill the March 1, 2023, request by the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, Charles Grassley, and Judiciary Committee Ranking Member, Lindsey Graham,’ the letter states. 

The ranking members asked the agency for copies of the correspondence between the intelligence analysts who drafted the Richmond memo and anyone of higher rank related to the report, an unredacted copy of the Domain Perspective memo, and a copy of all reports issued within FBI or DOJ within the past five years alleging a link between any primarily religious or conservative association or entity and violent extremism.

‘Now we know that information related to the Richmond memo wasn’t provided to Congress because the FBI deleted the records as soon as the incident became public,’ the lawmakers stated, citing a report released by the House Judiciary Committee on Dec. 4, in which Deputy Director Paul Abbate ordered Richmond Special Agent in Charge Stanley Meador to ‘take [the memo] down’ as soon as it became public. 

According to Meador, there was then a ‘follow-up call’ from Tanya Ugoretz, the FBI’s assistant director of the Directorate of Intelligence, which ordered Meador to notify the deputy director and Ugoretz, ‘‘when [he] had taken the necessary steps’ to remove the memorandum, and anything referring to the document, from FBI systems,’ the senators note. 

‘FBI must provide an immediate explanation for its order to delete records related to this incident, which not only obstructs congressional oversight, but also means the FBI’s internal review itself did not have access to documents that may have provided critical information on the incident. The FBI must also explain why it withheld this information from the Senate, despite repeated requests for records,’ they said. 

The senators said that based on now-available information, Wray’s claims under oath before Congress that the memo was ‘a single product by a single field office’ was ‘misleading, and that other offices had significant contributions to the memo.

‘Despite the internal memo’s obvious flaws, it was approved by layers of FBI bureaucracy, including the Chief Division Counsel and the Special Agent in Charge (SAC),’ the senators wrote. 

‘Indeed, FBI’s October 27 letter indicated that a total of seven individuals were involved in the drafting, review, and approval of the memo,’ they said. 

‘That a product this defective was reviewed by seven FBI employees and senior agents is evidence of a cultural problem at FBI that points well beyond a single report,’ they said. ‘This broader crisis of FBI leadership is part of an ongoing pattern of weaponization of federal law enforcement against ordinary citizens that we have warned you about at length, and which the FBI must address,’ they said. 

The FBI must respond to the senators by Feb. 14. 

Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen on Thursday launched three separate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. 

Around 5 a.m., U.S. Central Command forces shot down a drone over the Gulf of Aden. There were no injuries. 

Later Thursday, CENTCOM forces destroyed a Houthi explosive uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) in the Red Sea. U.S. forces identified the USV heading toward the international shipping lane and determined it presented an ‘imminent threat’ to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region, CENTCOM said. 

CENTCOM said the strike resulted in ‘significant secondary explosions.’ There were no injuries or damage reported. 

Later that afternoon, two anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen toward a Liberian-flagged, Bermuda-owned cargo ship. The missiles landed in the water without hitting the ship. There were no injuries or damage reported to the vessel. 

Iran-backed Houthi militants, stationed in Yemen, have for months been firing upon commercial vessels passing through the Red Sea. The militants say the attacks are in support of Palestinians killed in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Thursday represented the 42nd, 43rd, and 44th such attacks since November 19th.

The latest strikes come just days after three U.S. soldiers were killed in Jordan. The Biden administration has blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias that includes the militant group Kataib Hezbollah. 

Earlier this month, two U.S. Navy SEALs, went missing during a mission in the Red Sea and have since been declared dead. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday it’s time to further disable Iran-backed militias like the Houthis that have struck at U.S. forces and ships in the Middle East. He said the U.S. is preparing to take significant action in response to the soldiers’ deaths. 

For days the U.S. has hinted strikes are imminent. The threat of retaliation for Sunday’s deaths has driven some militant groups to say they were stopping hostilities. But the latest strikes by Houthi rebels cast doubt on those claims. 

‘At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past,’ Austin said Thursday in his first press conference since he was hospitalized on Jan. 1 due to complications from prostate cancer treatment.

Previous U.S. strikes have not deterred the attacks. Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October, Iranian-backed militant groups have struck U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria at least 166 times with rockets, missiles, and one-way attack drones, drawing about a half-dozen U.S. counterstrikes on militant facilities in both countries. The U.S. military also has carried out airstrikes targeting the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

While Iran has denied involvement, Austin said Thursday that ‘how much Iran knew or didn’t know, we don’t know. But it really doesn’t matter because Iran sponsors these groups.’

The Pentagon has the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower in the region, along with at least a half dozen other major U.S. warships, U.S. Air Force fighter jets and radar aircraft. It has already been regularly using those assets to conduct strikes and defend ships.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that he apologized directly to President Biden for not giving advance notice about his hospitalization for prostate cancer treatment. 

‘I want to be crystal clear. We did not handle this right and I did not handle this right,’ Austin said at a Pentagon press briefing on Thursday. ‘I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public, and I take full responsibility. I apologize to my teammates and to the American people.’

‘I want to make it very clear that there were no gaps in authorities and no risk to the department’s command and control,’ he insisted, addressing concern about who was in control at the Department of Defense during a time of heightened tension in the Middle East. Austin returned to the Pentagon for the first time since his hospitalization on Monday – just a day after a drone strike by Iran-backed militants killed three U.S. service members and injured at least 40 others in Jordan at a post near the Syrian border. 

‘At every moment, either I or the deputy secretary was in full charge,’ Austin said. ‘And we’ve already put in place some new procedures to make sure that any lapses in notification don’t happen in the future if the deputy secretary needs to temporarily assume the duties of my office. She and several White House officers will be immediately notified, including the White House Situation Room, and so will key officials across the department. And the reason for that assumption of duties will be included in writing.’ 

Austin also said he apologized to Biden after the matter. 

‘As a rule, I don’t talk about conversations with my boss, but I can tell you I have apologized directly to President Biden and I’ve told him that I’m deeply sorry for not letting him know immediately that I received a heavy diagnosis and was getting treatment,’ he said. ‘And he has responded with a grace and warm heart that anyone who knows President Biden would expect. And I’m grateful for his full confidence in me.’ 

Austin rejected the notion that he would resign over the controversy. 

Fox News’ national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin noted that during the time that Austin was in the intensive care unit, there was a drone strike carried out against an Iraqi leader of a militia. 

‘Do you regret that the authorities were not clear at that point? And what can you explain about what was going through your mind at that time?’ Griffin asked during the press conference. ‘And then separately, there’s been a lot of telegraphing about targeting and responding to the drone strike, so much so that the Iranian proxy leaders have left the country. Some are back in Tehran. Has there been too much telegraphing or is the point not to kill any Iranian commanders?’ 

Austin said the strike ‘was planned and I had made recommendations to the president on actions that we should carry out.’

‘President made a decision. And based upon that decision, authorities were pushed down to the Central Command commander. And as you know, a strike like that, you can’t pick the precise time when that strike is going to take place. You want to minimize collateral damage. You want to make sure that you have everything right. And so the subordinate commander had the controls on that particular strike. So I was very much involved in the planning and the recommendation for that. And we knew that that would take place within a matter of days.’ 

‘In terms of telegraphing about strikes and whether or not people leave or what they left,’ Austin said he would not speculate but said the U.S. vows a ‘multi-tiered response.’ 

Austin denied he created what another reporter called a ‘culture of secrecy’ at the department.

The secretary explained that he had a ‘minimally invasive procedure’ on Dec. 22, 2023, to treat his recently diagnosed prostate cancer. 

Unexpectedly, he said he felt severe pain in his leg, abdomen and hip on Jan. 1, and that evening an ambulance took him to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where doctors found he needed treatment for several issues, including a bladder infection and abdominal problems. On Jan. 2, Austin recalled how he was also experiencing a fever, chills and shallow breathing, so medical staff transferred him to the critical care unit for several days for closer monitoring and better ‘team care by my doctors.’ 

‘The deputy secretary assumed the functions and duties of my office, which happens when necessary,’ he said. ‘Her senior staff, my senior staff and the Joint Staff were notified of this through our regular email notification procedures, and I never directed anyone to keep my January hospitalization from the White House.’ 

Austin said he resumed his functions and duties as secretary from the hospital on Jan. 5. 

‘I was functioning well mentally, but not so well physically. And so I stayed at Walter Reed for additional time for additional treatment, including physical therapy, for some lingering issues with my leg,’ he said. ‘Now, I’m offering all this as an explanation and not an excuse. I am very proud of what we’ve achieved at the department over the past three years, but we fell short on this one.’ The Pentagon said Austin was released from Walter Reed on Jan. 15. 

Austin on Thursday also said he missed an opportunity to speak about an important health issue, one that especially impacts the Black community. 

‘I was diagnosed with a highly treatable form of cancer, a pretty common one. One in eight American men will get prostate cancer. One in six Black men will get it,’ he said. ‘And so I’m here with a clear message to other men, especially older men. Get screened, get your regular check-ups. Prostate cancer has a glass jar. If your doctor can spot it, they can treat it and beat it. The side effects that I experienced are highly, highly unusual. So you can count on me to set a better example on this issue today and for the rest of my life.’ 

The U.S. Capitol Police announced Thursday they have declined to press charges following the filming of a ‘sex video that was recorded inside the Hart Senate Office Building on the morning of Wednesday, December 13. 

‘After consulting with federal and local prosecutors, as well as doing a comprehensive investigation and review of possible charges, it was determined that — despite a likely violation of Congressional policy — there is currently no evidence that a crime was committed,’ the agency said in a statement to Fox News. 

‘Although the hearing room was not open to the public at the time, the Congressional staffer involved had access to the room. The two people of interest were not cooperative, nor were the elements of any of the possible crimes met,’ Capitol Police continued. 

‘The Congressional staffer, who has since resigned from his job, exercised his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and refused to talk to us,’ authorities also said. ‘Our investigators are willing to review new evidence should any come to light.’ 

The Daily Caller, which first broke news of the video, reported that the footage was leaked in a chat and was ‘shared in a private group for gay men in politics.’ 

A staff member for Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., was later fired over the video. 

‘I was angry. I was disappointed,’ Cardin told Fox News in December when speaking about the scandal. ‘It’s a breach of trust.’  

Cardin would not name the staffer in question, only saying it was a ‘personnel issue.’ The Democratic Senator said he was not aware of any further disciplinary issues against the staffer and hadn’t spoken to him since the firing. 

Room 216 in the Hart Senate Office Building is a storied hearing room. The dais where the graphic video was filmed is a place from which U.S. senators have grilled high-profile presidential nominees, including those who would go on to become justices of the Supreme Court. 

Fox News’ Bradford Betz, Anders Hagstrom and Kelly Phares contributed to this report.