Poll: Nearly 50% of likely Democratic primary voters still undecided

With the primary election Tuesday, an Emerson College Polling/The Hill poll has found there are some 49% of very likely voters still undecided in the Democratic nominees’ race for governor.

The front-runner, Yolanda Flowers, garnered 29% of likely voter support. Flowers is followed by Chad “Chig” Martin with 6.9%, Malika Sanders-Fortier with 5.1%, Arthur Kennedy with 1.5%, Doug Smith with 1%, and Patricia Jamieson with 0.5%, according to the poll.

The poll found similar results in the U.S. Senate race – 49% of likely primary voters are undecided among the three Democrats seeking their party’s nomination. Poll data shows 26% plan to vote for Will Boyd, 15% plan to support Brandaun Dean, and 11% plan to vote for Lanny Jackson.

If no candidate wins a majority of vote, the top two vote-earners will head to a runoff election June 21.

The winner in the Democratic primary for Governor and U.S. Senate will face the winner of the GOP primary elections on the general election ballot Nov. 8.  According to a recent poll Republican Gov.r Kay Ivey has the lead in her bid for reelection, while former Business Council of Alabama head Kate Britt leads the Republican field in the U.S. Senate race.

The winners of the Democratic primaries are likely to face an uphill battle in Alabama. It’s been nearly 20 years since a Democrat held the state’s top office.

On the U.S. Senate side, nine out of 10 of the last elections in Alabama have gone to the GOP.

Meanwhile, less than 284,000 Alabamians voted in the Democratic primary for governor in 2018, a race that was headlined by two relatively well-known names, Walt Maddox and Sue Bell Cobb.

Comparatively, on the GOP side more than double that number turned out with more than 589,500 voters casting their ballots.  Those numbers translated into a sizable victory for Gov. Kay Ivey against Maddox.

Election turnout for the May 24 primary could be higher than years past due to an increase in the number of registered voters since 2018. Secretary of State John Merrill said he expects 28-32% of Alabama’s 3.6 million registered voters to head to the polls Tuesday.

The Emerson College/The Hill poll surveyed 294 likely Alabama Democratic voters and was conducted May 15-16, 2022. It has a margin of error of plus- or minus-5.7%.