Alabama Republican Sen. Luther Strange, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, is trailing his opponent by double-digits in the state GOP primary run-off election, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The Decision Desk HQ poll has former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore ahead with 50.3 percent and Strange behind at 32.2 percent. It shows that Moore has a net favorability of 20.8 percent, while Strange is underwater with a net favorability of negative 6 percent.
This poll isn’t an outlier. A poll released Sunday stated that Moore was ahead by 19 percent. The run-off election will be held on Sept. 26 and the general election will be on December 12.
President Trump endorsed Strange a couple weeks ago, and wrote in a tweet that the senator “has done a great job representing the people of the Great State of Alabama.” Strange was appointed senator by former Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley after Jeff Sessions became Attorney General.
The Alabama senator is supported by the Senate Leadership Fund, a Super PAC that is closely linked with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. McConnell and Trump have been publicly feuding, and The New York Times reported Tuesday that the two recently had a “profane shouting match” over the phone.
Roger Stone, a political adviser close to President Trump, tweeted after Trump’s endorsement of Strange, “McConnell s**tz on [Donald Trump]. [Trump] endorses McConnell’s corrupt anti-Trump US Senate candidate Luther Strange wtf?”
Decision Desk HQ polled 494 likely Alabama Republican primary voters and their results have a margin of error of 4.4 percent. The poll was conducted on August 22 with a mix of landline and mobile phone respondents.