Alabama poll: Moore and Jones tied following scandal

Embattled Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore is tied with Democrat Doug Jones in a new poll on Friday, one day after accusations surfaced that Moore had inappropriate sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl decades ago.

Moore and Jones are tied at 46 percent in the new poll by Decision Desk and Opinion Savvy, with 82 percent of respondents aware of the new allegations leveled by named accusers in The Washington Post.

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In RealClearPolitics’s average of polls, which does not yet include the new poll, Moore is leading by 6 points. All of those polls were taken before the allegations of Moore’s sexual conduct were reported.

Since the lion’s share of respondents were aware of the allegations, it’s likely that the new revelations are in part responsible for tightening the race.

The Washington Post revealed on Thursday that an Alabama woman is accusing Moore of inappropriate sexual touching while she was 14 years old

Washington Republicans have rushed to distance themselves from Moore in the wake of the allegations. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has called on him to step aside if the allegations are true. And the National Republican Senatorial Committee has ended its fundraising agreement with Moore’s campaign.

Despite that pressure, 54 percent of voters — and 73 percent of Republicans — do not think Moore should step aside as the party’s nominee.

Moore has denied all of the allegations and insisted that he will not step down.

Some Republicans have talked about the potential for a long-shot write-in campaign, but the polling data shows that a write-in candidate could give Democrats the edge.

In a contest between Moore, Jones or write-in candidate Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.), Jones leads Moore by almost 3 points.

Strange was appointed to fill the seat after Jeff Sessions became attorney general but was defeated by Moore in the Republican special election primary.

The new poll surveyed 515 likely voters and has a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points.

Updated 2:28 p.m.