Poll: Roy Moore Leads for GOP Gubernatorial Nomination

Poll shows Moore with lead for GOP gubernatorial nomination (Mobile Register – AP)

A new poll shows Roy Moore with a lead over Gov. Bob Riley in the race for the 2006 Republican gubernatorial nomination, a potential boost for the former chief justice should he decide to run for the office. A Mobile Register-University of South Alabama poll of likely Republican primary voters shows Moore with a lead of 8 percentage points over Riley in a hypothetical primary matchup. Moore drew support from 43 percent of respondents, while the governor garnered 35 percent. The statewide survey, published Sunday and conducted last Monday through Thursday, included responses from 400 adults who identified themselves as likely voters in the GOP primary. The results are supposed to be accurate to within plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Ousted from the Alabama Supreme Court over his refusal to follow a federal judge’s order to remove a Ten Commandments office from the court building, Moore has been traveling the country speaking to conservative organizations and religious groups. The poll found that Moore had a favorable rating of 72 percent — a number University of Alabama political scientist William Stewart described as potentially “intimidating to the governor.” When Greenville businessman Tim James was added to the mix, both Moore’s and Riley’s support dropped. But that matchup still pushed Moore’s lead to 10 percentage points. James, a son of former Gov. Fob James who ran for governor in 2002, drew just 4 percent support.

Poll director Keith Nicholls, a political scientist at South Alabama, said the results indicate the 2006 nomination is “Moore’s for the taking.”

Sad but hardly surprising. The potential Democratic challengers, disgraced former governor Don Siegelman and lightweight lieutenant governor Lucy Baxley, would be no match for Moore.

FILED UNDER: 2006 Election, Law and the Courts, , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. The whole thing gives me hives.

  2. McGehee says:

    Would it be sinful to pray that he self-destructs?

  3. McGehee says:

    Actually, this early in the game, an eight-point lead isn’t meaningful. I wouldn’t start worrying for another year or so.

  4. dw says:

    Yeah, it would be sinful, sadly. It’s also sinful to pray that Moore is found in a hotel with a prostitute paid for with his org’s credit card… damn, that’s tempting.

    It’s sad that Riley, who has attempted to lead Alabama as a Bible-minded Christian (esp. with his income tax reform plan), would probably be blown out of office by a shyster like Moore. I’m really getting tired of dealing with fellow church members who think Moore is some modern prophet. I wish the truth about him were revealed, but people nowadays are getting to be intellectually lazy and stupid with their faith. Heck, even if he were revealed to be the Antichrist, there would be millions of Christians in this country who would think it was the anti-Christian MSM out to tear down a Godly man like him.

    With Kevin McGehee and I agree on something, you know it’s a bad thing.

  5. Just Me says:

    I don’t live in Alabama, but I surely there is a reliable GOP candidate that can be nominated other than Moore. I am a conservative Christian, but that man gives me the creeps.