Voters in New Alabama Congressional District Want Progressive Representation

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Voters in the new Alabama congressional district are most concerned about having a representative who will further a progressive agenda prioritizing voting rights, rising costs of living and affordability of health care, according to a new poll released today by the SPLC Action Fund and its affiliate the New Southern Majority, a federal independent expenditure (IE) PAC. The poll also found the race is wide open, with 47% of voters undecided.

“This research demonstrates that voters across Alabama’s new congressional district want true, progressive representation,” said Brandon Jones, director of political campaigns for the SPLC Action Fund. “Candidates’ positions on progressive policy issues will be a major determining factor as they clearly want to step into the political power this district finally provides them.”

In February, the organizations will host a candidate forum in Montgomery to provide voters an opportunity to come face to face with the candidates and learn where they stand on key issues and their vision for achieving equity and justice across the Deep South.

The poll found that:

• While 47% of voters are undecided, State Rep. Napoleon Bracy leads the pack with 15%, followed by Shomari Figures (9%), State Rep. Anthony Daniels (8%), State Sen. Merika Coleman (6%), Darryl Sinkfield (5%), State Rep. Jeremy Gray (4%), and State Rep. Juandalynn Givan (2%). Last week, Sinkfield announced he was withdrawing from the race.
• Slightly more respondents are concerned about voting rights (20%) than inflation and rising costs (15%) and making health care more affordable (12%).
• Voters identify equal access to good K-12 public schools (78%), expanding Medicaid (75%), bringing in new good-paying jobs (71%), standing up for voting rights by allowing voters to vote early (67%), and making college/higher education affordable (66%) as top priorities.
• When asked which issue they heard about matters most to them personally in an open-ended question, voting rights (22%), health care (16%), education (15%), and good-paying jobs (11%) again topped the list.

The poll, of 450 likely voters in the upcoming March Democratic primary, was conducted by Impact Research, based in Montgomery. More details on the poll can be found here.