Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville has a 17-point lead over incumbent Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in Alabama, according to a Morning Consult poll released Tuesday.
The survey of 650 likely Alabama voters shows Tuberville ahead of Jones, 52 percent to 35 percent. Four percent said they would vote for someone else and 9 percent had no opinion.
Tuberville, who secured the Republican nomination after he defeated ex-U.S. Attorney General and erstwhile Sen. Jeff Sessions in last month’s GOP primary runoff, more than doubled his advantage over Jones from an earlier survey.
Back in February, Tuberville had an 8-point lead over Jones, 50 percent to 42 percent, according to an Alabama Daily News/Mason-Dixon poll. That survey was conducted before the initial GOP primary in March.
Tuberville is leading Jones among independent voters, 34 percent to 27 percent, according to the Morning Consult survey. Both candidates have wide leads among voters of their own parties; Jones leads among Democrats, 95 percent to 1 percent, while Tuberville has an overwhelming advantage among Republican voters, 87 percent to 4 percent.
Democratic strategist Joe Trippi, who is advising the Jones campaign, disputed the poll’s accuracy in an email to supporters. He said the campaign’s own polling shows the race a virtual tie.
“Sen. Jones is not down 17 points. We have the race as a virtual dead heat. And we are going to win,” Trippi said. “There is no way in hell Doug Jones is down by even double digits, much less 17 points. No way – period. Every metric we have seen – from rising support for the senator among suburban women to increased support with independents – points to this once again being a very close race.”
The Morning Consult poll was conducted from July 24 to Aug. 2 and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4 percentage points.