MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Inflation and the cost of living are the top concerns for Alabama voters ahead of Election Day, a poll commissioned by Alabama Daily News and Gray Television shows.
More than a third of 500 surveyed likely general election voters, 37.3%, said inflation and the cost of living are their top issues as they head to the polls this year. Corruption in politics was the second most cited issue, at 15.3%.
Illegal immigration and border security were the third most frequently named issues at 9.7%, followed by taxes and government spending at 8.1%, and jobs and the economy at 7.7%.
The survey was conducted statewide on Oct. 16 and 17 and has a margin of error of ±4.38%.
Democrats and independents were the most focused on inflation and the cost of living, with 49% and 41% of those voters citing that as their top issue, respectively. About 30% of Republican voters in the poll said it was their most important issue.
For Republicans, the second most frequently named top issue was illegal immigration and border security at 18%, compared with just 3% of independents and 1% of Democrats naming it their biggest issue before the midterm elections.
After inflation and the cost of living, the next most-picked top issue for Democratic voters was corruption in politics at 22%, according to the statewide survey. About 13% of GOP voters said that was their biggest concern.
Alabama Daily News and Gray Television’s Republican primary poll from earlier this year also found that inflation and the cost of living were the most important issues for voters, with 28% naming them as their top concern.
Data centers
Nearly half of Alabama voters, 46%, see data centers as a net negative for their communities compared to 19% who view the massive facilities used to fuel online consumption in a positive light, according to the poll.
Respondents’ opinions about the centers are also strongly held, with 30.9% of voters viewing them as definitely net negative for their communities and 15.1% viewing them somewhat negatively.
The poll shows that among those who view the centers positively, only 7.6% said they are definitely a net positive, compared with 11.4% who view them somewhat positively.
About 13% of voters see the centers as neither positive nor negative and 21.5% said they were unsure.
Even though data centers are unpopular in Alabama, only about 4% of voters listed them as their most important issue before the midterms.
But among those who are undecided in the gubernatorial race between Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Democratic former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, 15% listed data centers as their top issue.
Data centers have been a crucial issue in the gubernatorial election, as Tuberville, who had previously championed the benefits of putting data centers in Alabama, has since softened his stance on the massive facilities, saying in a campaign ad that it should be up to local communities to decide if they want a data center built there.
Jones has remained firmly in favor of putting up guardrails around the centers and has called for a one-year moratorium on new data center construction until safeguards are implemented to protect communities from energy, water and noise concerns.
Alabama Republican voters are pretty evenly split about how they view data centers. About 29% of GOP voters view them in a positive light compared to 32% who see them as a net negative for their communities and 25% are unsure. About 13% of surveyed Republican voters see them as neither positive nor negative.
But a majority of Democrats, 61%, have a negative opinion of data centers. Only 12% of Democratic voters have a positive opinion, 19% are unsure and 8% see them as neither positive nor negative.
Voters in Montgomery have the highest positive opinion of data centers at 24%, compared with Huntsville at 15%, Birmingham at 21% and just 10% of voters in Mobile viewing them positively for their communities.