WASHINGTON — A new poll of Alabama voters shows Roy Moore’s support is waning after bombshell allegations he molested a 14-year-old girl in 1979.
Democrat Doug Jones now leads Moore by 4 percentage points in the special election race for US Senate — 46 percent to 42 percent with 9 percent undecided, according to a JMC Analytics and Polling survey.
That’s a significant swing from October when Moore had a 48-40 percent lead in the same survey.
The Washington Post published a story Thursday about four women who said Moore sought a sexual or romantic relationship with them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. One woman, Leigh Corfman, said she was 14 when a 32-year-old Moore took her to his home, undressed her and took of his clothes. Moore touched her over his bra and underpants and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.
Moore has denied any sexual misconduct with minors and refused to drop out of the race despite mounting pressure from members of his party. He dismissed the women’s allegations as “fake news.”
“Roy Moore has in the last month seen the race move against him,” the JMC Analytics polling summary concluded.
The automated telephone survey of 575 likely voters was conducted Nov. 9 to Nov. 11.
Given the allegations against Moore, 38 percent of voters said they are less likely to support him, 29 percent said it makes them more likely to support Moore, while 33 percent said it made no difference.
Three previous flash polls out since the sexual molestation allegations showed a tightening race between Jones and Moore, but not a Democrat lead in the deeply red state.
A Nov. 9 Opinion-Savvy poll found a deadlocked race with Moore at 46.4 percent and Jones at 46 percent.
Moore was ahead 48 to 46 percent in a Big League-Gravis poll of 478 likely voters conducted Nov. 10.
Moore’s lead was even larger — 44-40 percent — in a Change Research poll conducted Nov. 9 to 11.
President Trump carried Alabama in a landslide 62-34 percent — last November, but his approval rating has declined since to 52 percent, the poll found.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday that Jones is the “underdog” but still has a shot.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said if Moore wins the seat there’s still a chance the Senate could take a two-thirds vote to expel him. But she hopes it won’t have to come to that and Alabama voters will choose Jones instead.
“I have faith that they’re going to look at what happened in these allegations and the fact that there’s 30 witnesses, and make a decision on someone else,” Klobuchar told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The election is on Dec. 12.