A new poll shows Democratic candidate Doug Jones tied with Republican nominee and former judge Roy Moore in Alabama. Both candidates garnered 42% support. The special election to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions' former senate seat occurs December 12.
GOP firm Shaw & Company Research and Democratic firm Anderson Robbins Research conducted the Fox News poll published Tuesday. It confirms Republican leadership's fears about Moore. President Donald Trump won Alabama last year by 28 percentage points.
Roy Moore campaigns on a theocratic, anti-LGBT message. Twice ousted as state Supreme Court chief justice for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument and for refusing to follow the Supreme Court's ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, Moore is a vulnerable candidate.
Democrat Doug Jones, a former prosecutor, convicted two former Klansmen in the bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. His campaign portrays Moore as someone who would embarrass Alabama on the national stage.
I can work with Republicans better than Roy Moore can work with anyone."
The poll found 53% of registered voters were extremely or very interested in the race. Among them, Jones holds a one-point lead over Moore at 46% to 45%.
Moore defeated Senator Luther Strange, the appointee to Sessions' seat until the special election, in a September 26 primary runoff. President Trump visited Huntsville to campaign for Senator Strange. Steve Bannon backed Moore.
Moore also appears to be getting some notice overseas in what seems to be another Russian cyber campaign to infiltrate the US political system for a Bannon backed candidate. Roy Moore gained 20,000 Twitter followers over the weekend, more than 1,100 bearing Russian language names and descriptions, according to The Montgomery Advertiser.
Doug Jones launched his senate campaign at a Birmingham rally with former Vice President Joe Biden.
The survey of 801 voters, conducted October 14-16, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 points.
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