Preliminary Exit Poll Results: How Different Groups Voted in Alabama

See how different groups voted in the special election for U.S. Senate in Alabama between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones. The poll was conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Pool, The Washington Post and other media organizations. Click here for exit poll methodology.

Jones benefited from near-unanimous support from black voters, historically large support from whites

Fully 96 percent of African Americans supported Jones, similar to President Obama’s 95 percent support among this group in 2012. But Jones fared much better than Obama among white voters, garnering 30 percent of their votes, twice the 15 percent who voted for Obama. Jones made particularly large gains among white women and those with college degrees.

Moore won among white college graduate women

Preliminary exit poll results showed Moore faring worse among white voters than Republicans in previous Alabama elections, but he maintained a lead among both white men and women and those with and without college degrees.

Nationwide, the 2016 election brought about a stark divide in support among whites by both gender and education, with white women and college graduates more likely to recoil from Trump’s campaign and swing in Democrats’ direction than white men and those without college degrees.

Conservative and Republican turnout differed little from past in Alabama

Conservatives and Republicans each make up more than 4 in 10 Alabama voters, according to preliminary exit poll results, figures that are on par or down just slightly from presidential elections in 2012 and 2008 won handily by Republican presidential nominees.

{snip}

While the share of liberals has increased nationwide in the past few elections, the preliminary exit poll finding is also much different than recent statewide polling. In 2016, Gallup found 17 percent of adults in Alabama identifying as liberal, putting it in the bottom fifth of states.

White evangelical Christians were the only group showing slight signs of slippage in preliminary exit polls. They made up 44 percent of voters compared with 47 percent of voters in the 2012 and 2008 presidential elections.

{snip}

Young voters back Jones by wide margin

Alabama voters ages 18 to 44 supported Jones by a roughly 20-point margin over Moore, marking a stark shift from 2012 when Mitt Romney won voters under 45 by a small margin.

Moore led among older voters, especially seniors, who favored him over Jones by about 20 points.

{snip}

Trump disapproval rivaled approval in state he won by 28 points

Trump won Alabama with 62 percent of the vote in 2016, but he enjoyed far less support among voters in Tuesday’s Senate election in Alabama.

{snip}

More Alabamians wanted Republicans to control Senate than Democrats

By a narrow 50 to 45 percent margin, more Alabama voters said they wanted Republicans to control the Senate than Democrats.

{snip}

[Editor’s Note: There are graphics and more detailed breakdowns at the original article link below.]