Poll: Dem holds 3-point lead over Moore in Ala. Senate race

Alabama Senate candidate Doug Jones (D) holds a 3-point lead over opponent Roy Moore (R) less than two weeks before the key special election, according to a new poll released Saturday.

The Washington Post-Schar School found that 50 percent of likely voters polled said they would vote for Jones in the election, compared to 47 percent who said they’d vote for Moore. Just 3 percent of voters in the poll said they would vote for someone else or were undecided.

Jones’s lead is within the poll’s margin of error, making Jones and Moore neck and neck in the race.

The poll also finds that 53 percent of likely voters think Jones has a “higher standard of personal moral conduct” between the two candidates, compared to just 34 percent who said the same of Moore.

{mosads}Jones also outpaces Moore on the key issue of health care, with 51 percent of likely voters polled saying they trust Jones more to handle health-care issues in the Senate. Forty-five percent of likely voters said they would place their trust in Moore.

Among the likely voters surveyed, 41 percent said a candidate’s positions on health care were the most important factor to earn their vote and 26 percent said personal moral conduct was the most important factor.

The poll was conducted from Nov. 27-30 among a sample of 749 likely Alabama voters. The margin of error is 4.5 points.

The Alabama race has been thrust into the national spotlight after Moore was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, including a woman who says Moore initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was 14 and he was 32.

Top Republicans in Congress have called on Moore to drop out of the race following the allegations.

Moore has refused those demands and steadfastly denied the allegations of sexual misconduct, calling them a political ploy to sabotage his campaign.