By MARY SELL and TODD STACY, Alabama Daily News
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A new poll shows six-term Congressman Mo Brooks leading the field in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. But the survey, conducted last week by Cygnal for Alabama Daily News, also shows an opening for first-time candidate Katie Britt.
Brooks, who has represented the north Alabama 5th district since 2011, received support from 40.8% likely GOP primary voters. Britt, the former Business Council of Alabama president and chief of staff for retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, had support from 17.1% of voters.
Rounding out the field, businesswoman and former congressional candidate Jessica Taylor had 3% and former U.S. Ambassador Lynda Blanchard had 1.6%
Nearly 32% of voters remain undecided.
If the Republican primary election for U.S. Senate were held today, and you had to make a choice, who would you vote for?
| Candidate | % |
|---|---|
| Mo Brooks | 40.8% |
| Katie Britt | 17.7% |
| Jessica Taylor | 3.0% |
| Lynda Blanchard | 1.6% |
| Someone else | 5.1% |
| Undecided | 31.8% |
The only other publicly available polling on the race came from Club for Growth in late April. That poll, conducted by WPA Intelligence, showed Brooks with 59% of the vote and Britt with just 9%. Those top line numbers would suggest a 19 point drop for Brooks and an eight point gain for Britt. Club for Growth is supporting Brooks. Britt officially entered the race in June, months after Brooks.
Brooks previously ran for Senate in the 2017 special election and came in third in the GOP primary with about 20% of the vote, short of incumbent Luther Strange and eventual nominee Roy Moore. This time, he has the endorsement and support of former President Donald Trump.
The poll shows the former president has a 83.7% favorable rating among GOP voters, including a “very favorable” rating among 65.1%.
Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Donald Trump?
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Very favorable | 65.1% |
| Somewhat favorable | 18.6% |
| Total favorable | 83.7% |
| Somewhat unfavorable | 5.1% |
| Very unfavorable | 10.0% |
| Total unfavorable | 15.1% |
| No opinion | 1.1% |
Would President Trump’s endorsement of a candidate in Alabama make you more or less likely to support that candidate?
Nearly 58% of voters said a Trump endorsement would make them more likely to vote for a candidate in Alabama. Nearly 10% said it would make them less likely to cast their vote for that candidate. Thirty percent said a Trump endorsement made no difference.
| Response | % |
|---|---|
| Much more likely | 33.5% |
| Somewhat more likely | 24.2% |
| Total more likely | 57.7% |
| Makes no difference | 30.0% |
| Somewhat less likely | 2.1% |
| Much less likely | 7.5% |
| Total less likely | 9.6% |
| Unsure | 2.8% |
Looking further into the numbers, Brooks leads among voters who say a Trump endorsement makes them more likely to support a candidate at 54% while Britt leads among both those saying it makes them less likely and it makes no difference, at 41.8% and 31.4% respectively.
Among undecided voters, 60.7% say they are more likely to back a Trump-endorsed candidate, while 27.5% say it makes no difference, 6.1% say they are less likely and 5.7% say they are unsure.
The survey, commissioned by Alabama Daily News and conducted by Cygnal, took place August 17-18 among 600 likely Republican primary voters and has a margin of error of +/- 4.0%. Known registered voters were interviewed via live phone calls, interactive voice response and text message invitation in Cygnal’s multi-mode survey method.