Georgia voters showed us these 3 things about the fall election

In Atlanta's distant suburbs, voters across the political spectrum report that local life is good in 2022 — but the direction of the country is not.

That's one of three major insights we gained while interviewing voters in a key state. We visited two metro Atlanta counties — one blue and one red, both prosperous, populous and diverse.

In this fall's elections, Georgia's U.S. Senate race could plausibly decide control of the entire Senate. The governor's race and legislative contests may decide who writes, signs or vetoes abortion legislation after an expected Supreme Court ruling that could overturn Roe v. Wade. The overall results may show the level of former President Donald Trump's influence in a state at the center of his efforts to overturn his election defeat in 2020.

We interviewed 36 people in Democratic-leaning and Republican-leaning , ranging from local officials and activists