The GOP only has a two seat majority in the Senate, which has shown to be as fragile as everyone thinks after a handful of senators voted no on Obamacare “repeal” bills. The same trouble seems to be brewing when it comes to tax reform.
Now that majority may shrink even more since a Fox News poll, yes FOX NEWS, shows that GOP candidate Roy Moore is tied with Democrat candidate Doug Jones at 42% for the Alabama senate seat.
Jones served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama under President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001. After that, he returned to private law.
Moore served as a judge for the Sixteenth Circuit Court of Alabama from 1992 – 2000 and then on the Alabama Supreme Court. He was suspended in May 2016 due to alleged ethical violations.
Moore, backed by anti-establishment people, defeated placeholder Luther Strange, who took over the seat after the Senate confirmed then-Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general.
The special election will occur on December 12.
The two candidates are at 42% while 11% of the registered voters remain unsure. 3% chose “Other.” However, the pollsters discovered that the independents choose “Jones by 33-26 percent (27 percent undecided).”
The poll also found that “42 percent of Moore’s supporters have some reservations about their candidate.” That same number for Jones is only 28%. From Fox News:
“This race exemplifies the difficulty the Republican Party has now,” says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Democrat Chris Anderson.“There is an element of the party that has had it with the establishment, had it with politics as usual, had it with political correctness. The fissure within the party means divisive primaries, controversial candidates, and hard choices for GOP voters once the general election rolls around.”Jones is helped by greater party loyalty, and hesitancy among Moore’s own backers.
Moore has tried to say that Jones is too liberal for Alabama and 29% of the voters in the poll agreed. Yet, 39% of those same voters “feel Moore is out of step with Alabama today” and 24% of them are Republicans.
As I mentioned above, Moore became the anti-establishment candidate in the GOP primary, propped up by President Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon and former Vice President-nominee Sarah Palin. However, those who are “satisfied with the government break for Moore by 41 points (62-21 percent).” Those people who are dissatisfied with the federal government prefer Jones “by 18 points (52-34 percent.)”
Who would have thought that Alabama, a deep red state, would have such a close and tense Senate election? Not only that, but this could really change things in D.C.
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