One of the underdogs in the race to be Alabama’s next U.S. Senator is calling foul over some of the recent polling released in the contest.
Candidate Rodney Walker, who is a cattle farmer and businessman, believes the latest polls are “misleading.”
“It reminds me of the polls run when President Trump was running for office against Kamala Harris. The polls were manipulated by the ‘fake news,’ and just as President Trump called them out, I am calling them out today as ‘fake news’ here in Alabama,” Walker said.
“A good friend of mine who was elected Sheriff multiple times in our local county used to often tell me that you can’t outdo a man who owned a barrel of ink and a warehouse of paper. Even though our world is digital now rather than print, our media outlets need to investigate and report the truth.”
One of the most recent polls showed U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) leading at 22.8%, followed by Attorney General Steve Marshall at 20.7% and former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson of Birmingham at 19.0%. The remaining 34.5% of voters were firmly undecided.
The Walker campaign also released a statement on the issue Friday.
“Recent reports and so-called ‘polls’ being shared across various platforms do not reflect a fully informed electorate and risk misrepresenting the true state of the race,” the statement said. “These questionable polls often rely on limited samples of 300 to 500 people, lack transparency in methodology, or fail to provide voters with adequate information about all candidates before collecting responses.”
“In the past seven days, two different polls have surfaced and were broadcast all over news outlets in Alabama,” the statement continued. “The first one showed 46% undecided voters with Barry Moore ahead. This was paid for by the Club for Growth, which has given Barry’s campaign $6.5 million dollars through media buys.”
The campaign then pointed to a more favorable poll in their statement.
“In contrast, we conducted a recent poll by Deep Root Analytics of Arlington, VA, one of the best polling firms in the United States, paid for by our campaign,” the campaign explained, “where voters were provided with clear, unbiased information about each candidate, showing that on an informed poll that Rodney Walker earned 21% support among respondents with 44% undecided.”
“Rodney Walker remains committed to engaging directly with voters across Alabama, focusing on the issues that matter most: economic opportunity, government accountability, and strengthening communities statewide,” they concluded.
Alabama requires a candidate to win a majority of primary votes to claim the nomination.
If no candidate clears 50% on May 19, the top two finishers advance to a runoff on June 16.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
