Poll: Candidate Jones In ‘Dead Heat’ With Roy Moore

The race is close, but for the moment Democrat Doug Jones seems to have caught up with former judge Roy Moore in the Alabama senatorial race.

The Alabama.com news website reports that a poll conducted following the disclosure of sexual misconduct allegations against Mr. Moore, shows him trail the underdog Democrat  46-42. With a four-point margin for error this makes the race a statistical dead heat.

The poll had 9 percent of participants declaring themselves "undecided." As is so often the case, those undecided voters could make the difference.

Reporter Paul Gattis notes: "Louisiana-based JMC Analytics conducted the poll after allegations of sexual misconduct by Moore were reported by The Washington Post."

Other polls taken during roughly the same period show Mr. Moore with a slight edge, or a dead heat.

JMC said there were three reasons why Mr. Moore, the socially conservative ex-judge, has lost his lead:

• Support has dropped 16 percent with men and 6 percent with women.
• Mr. Moore's support across the board has dropped, including evangelicals (his strongest supporters), while non-evangelicals and some moderate, "suburban-dwelling" Republicans have given more support to Mr. Jones.
• The political climate for Republicans in the state has become less favorable.

The election is December 12.

[Source: Alabama.com]