New Alabama poll shows warning signs for Republicans elsewhere

The Republican Party could face strong headwinds in 2018, according to a new poll gauging public opinion in deep red Alabama.

The survey from JMC Analytics shows Republican Roy Moore comfortably though not overwhelmingly ahead of Democrat Doug Jones in the December special election for a U.S. Senate seat: 48 percent to 40 percent. Moore, the former elected chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, fails to hit the all-important 50 percent mark in this poll. But that’s not the finding Republicans should be worried about.