A poll by Emerson College and The Hill showed Gov. Kay Ivey leading the Republican race for governor with Tim James second and Lindy Blanchard third in the nine-candidate field.
The poll showed Ivey with less than the majority needed to avoid a runoff but indicated the governor could reach that threshold if she gets her share of undecided voters in Tuesday’s primary.
The order of finish is the same as in a poll done nine days earlier by Cygnal for Alabama Daily News and Gray Television, although the percentages changed.
The respondents also weighed in on Alabama’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race.
The Emerson College/The Hill poll surveyed 706 early voters or very likely voters in the Republican primary and got these responses:
- Ivey, 45.9%
- James, 17.4%
- Blanchard, 11.1%
- Lew Burdette 6.9%
- Dean Odle, 2.8%.
- Undecided, 15.4%.
The other four candidates were all at less than 1%. The poll had a credibility interval of 3.6%. The credibility interval is similar to the margin for error, according to the Emerson College Polling press release.
Among the undecided, more respondents said they were leaning toward Ivey than the others.
- Ivey 42.8%
- James, 23.7%
- Blanchard, 14.3%.
“A plurality of undecided voters say they lean towards Ivey when asked a follow-up question of who they lean toward in the gubernatorial primary, allowing Ivey to reach a majority to potentially avoid a run-off this June,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a press release.
The Cygnal poll of 600 likely Republican voters on May 6-7 for Alabama Daily News and Gray Television showed Ivey at 40%, James at 17.9%, Blanchard at 14.6%, Burdette at 5.8%, and Odle at 3.5%.
The Emerson College/The Hill survey also included 294 early or very likely Democratic primary voters. Almost half were undecided on the Democratic candidates for governor. The responses:
- Yolanda Flowers, 29%
- Chad “Chig” Martin, 6.9%
- Malika Sanders-Fortier, 5.1%
- Arthur Kennedy, 5%
- Doug Smith, 3.4%
- Patricia Jamieson, 1.7%
- Undecided 49%.
The confidence interval was 5.7%.
Read the report from Emerson College Polling.
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