Democrat Doug Jones has opened up a 10-point lead over Republican and accused child molester Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate contest, a stunning poll said Monday.
The Fox News survey said that Jones was leading 50 to 40 percent — by far the largest margin either candidate has enjoyed in the closely watched race.
The poll suggested that Democrats were more juiced about their candidate than GOP voters were about theirs, and were also demonstrating more loyalty to their party.
Jones widened his lead the day before Tuesday’s election despite President Trump’s endorsement and appearance at a raucous pro-Moore rally Friday night just over the Alabama state line in Pensacola, Florida.
Nationalist firebrand Steve Bannon also backs Moore, a self-professed evangelical who is a darling of the Cotton State’s conservative Christians.
That support appears steadfast despite allegations of sexual misconduct and assault lodged against Moore by at least eight women, including two who said he groped them when they were minors and he was a local prosecutor in his 30s.
Moore initially said he knew some of the women but never dated them.
His story later changed, and he now insists that he doesn’t know any of them.
He also charges that they are all liars and he is the victim of a conspiracy cooked up by an unlikely alliance of liberals, the media and the GOP establishment.
Trump has touted Moore’s denials in defense of his endorsement of the accused perv.
But Alabama voters by a 6-point margin believe the allegations against Moore are true, 39 percent to 33 percent.
Thirteen percent of Republicans believe the accusations, while 60 percent do not with 26 percent unsure.
Jones’ lead comes mostly from nonwhites, younger voters and women, the Fox poll said.
Support for Moore among white evangelical Christians was down 8 points since last month, from 73 percent in November to 65 percent now.
“Moore might prevail if only the people who typically vote in Alabama elections turn out Tuesday, which is often what happens in special elections,” said Democratic pollster Chris Anderson, who conducts the Fox News Poll with Republican Daron Shaw.
“But this appears to be a special, special election with blacks and young voters animated by a caustic Republican candidate and the chance of winning a statewide election with national implications, and at the same time some Republicans and many moderates are turned off by Moore, too.”
“It’s clear Jones is positioned to pull off the upset because his supporters are unified and energized, and Moore’s are conflicted and diffident,” Shaw told Fox.
“But Jones is depending on many voters who show up only occasionally to cast their ballots. If their rate of follow-through drops from what we expect, the race could turn. The other factor is the race seems volatile, with a new twist or story every day, and because of this, it is difficult to know what Republicans will ultimately do.”
The two are vying for the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Ex-President Barack Obama inserted himself into the race by recording a robocall to help Jones, CNN reported Monday. “This one’s serious, you can’t sit it out,” Obama says in the call.
Trump previously recorded a robocall for Moore.
The latest poll was conducted Dec. 7-10, 2017, by telephone — landlines and cellphones — with live interviewers among a sample of 1,127 voters selected from a statewide voter file in Alabama, Fox said.
Those polled on landlines were far more evenly divided than those surveyed on their cellphones, who favored Jones by 30 percentage points.
Those on cellphones were believed to be younger, possibly explaining Jones’ overall lead in the Fox poll.
Most other polls, which did not include cellphones, had the race much tighter, with Moore having a small lead over the Democrat.
The new poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for the full sample of likely voters.



