--- title: Roy Moore: Doug Jones Beats Moore in Fox News Poll description: A Fox News poll released Thursday showed his support has dropped significantly in recent days, particularly among women voters canonical: https://time.com/5028546/roy-moore-challenger-doug-jones-leads-poll-thanks-women/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-16T23:10:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T11:23:02.062Z article:section: Politics og:title: Roy Moore's Democratic Challenger Surges Ahead in New Poll — Thanks to Women og:description: Doug Jones leads Moore by 8 points in the Fox News poll og:url: https://time.com/5028546/roy-moore-challenger-doug-jones-leads-poll-thanks-women/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94942a16849d0bd6/6988e63a096a942e1a6a0720/roy-moore-alabama-senate-doug-jones-sexual-misconduct-allegations-republican-losing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Embattled GOP Senate Candidate In Alabama Judge Roy Moore Continues Campaigning Throughout The State og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Roy Moore's Democratic Challenger Surges Ahead in New Poll — Thanks to Women twitter:description: Doug Jones leads Moore by 8 points in the Fox News poll twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94942a16849d0bd6/6988e63a096a942e1a6a0720/roy-moore-alabama-senate-doug-jones-sexual-misconduct-allegations-republican-losing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Roy Moore's Democratic Challenger Surges Ahead in New Poll — Thanks to Women by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Nov 16, 2017 11:10 PM UTC  Republican candidate for Senate Judge Roy Moore waits to speak during a news conference with supporters and faith leaders, Nov. 16, 2017 in Birmingham, Alabama. Republican candidate for Senate Judge Roy Moore waits to speak during a news conference with supporters and faith leaders, Nov. 16, 2017 in Birmingham, Alabama.Drew Angerer—Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Nov 16, 2017 11:10 PM UTC While Republican Senate candidate [Roy Moore](http://time.com/5025829/will-roy-moore-win-will-doug-jones-win/) has [remained defiant](http://time.com/5028353/roy-moore-tweet-mitch-mcconnell/?xid=homepage) amid a controversy over allegations of [sexual misconduct](http://time.com/5026684/roy-moore-alabama-new-accusation-tina-johnson-grope/), a Fox News poll released Thursday showed his support has dropped significantly in recent days. Moore trails Democrat Doug Jones by 8 points among likely voters in the upcoming Dec. 12 Alabama special election, according to [the poll](https://andersonrobbins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/111617%5Fcomplete%5Fnov%5FAL%5Ftopline%5Fweb.pdf), with 50% saying they would vote for Jones and 42% saying they would vote for Moore. Moore appears to have lost a significant amount of support from women voters. In the Fox News poll, Jones led Moore among likely women voters 58% to 32%. Among all registered voters in the poll, women had a similar split, going 56% for Jones to 33% for Moore. These numbers represent a stark change from an [Oct. 17 Fox News poll](https://andersonrobbins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/101717%5Fcomplete%5Foct%5FAL%5Ftopline%5Fweb.pdf), which was conducted before the [Washington _Post_ reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/woman-says-roy-moore-initiated-sexual-encounter-when-she-was-14-he-was-32/2017/11/09/1f495878-c293-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.59fa71997c9f) that four women accused Moore of pursuing them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. In the October poll, the two candidates were tied at 42% and registered women voters were largely split on the candidates as well: 43% said they would vote for Jones at the time, while 41% favored Moore. The new poll included 823 registered voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3% and was conducted Nov. 13-15, starting four days after the _Post_ report. A fifth accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, also spoke out on Nov. 13 alleging that Moore assaulted her when she was 16\. Another woman, Tina Johnson, said Wednesday that [Moore groped her in his office in 1991\. ](http://time.com/5026684/roy-moore-alabama-new-accusation-tina-johnson-grope/) Likely voters not only slowed down on their support for Moore in this poll, but they also showed less enthusiasm for the possibility of voting for Luther Strange, who currently holds the seat and who Moore beat in the Republican primary earlier this fall. Some have talked about writing in Strange’s name on Dec. 12, but likely voters favored Jones to Strange 48% to 38% in the poll. Other recent polls had shown Moore and Jones neck-and-neck, but a poll from the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm this week also showed [Jones up by 12 points.](https://andersonrobbins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/111617%5Fcomplete%5Fnov%5FAL%5Ftopline%5Fweb.pdf) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5028546/roy-moore-challenger-doug-jones-leads-poll-thanks-women/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5028546/roy-moore-challenger-doug-jones-leads-poll-thanks-women/"},"headline":"Roy Moore's Democratic Challenger Surges Ahead in New Poll — Thanks to Women","datePublished":"2017-11-16T23:10:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T11:23:02.062Z","description":"Doug Jones leads Moore by 8 points","url":"https://time.com/5028546/roy-moore-challenger-doug-jones-leads-poll-thanks-women/","keywords":["Senate","alabama","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94942a16849d0bd6/6988e63a096a942e1a6a0720/roy-moore-alabama-senate-doug-jones-sexual-misconduct-allegations-republican-losing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt94942a16849d0bd6/6988e63a096a942e1a6a0720/roy-moore-alabama-senate-doug-jones-sexual-misconduct-allegations-republican-losing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Embattled GOP Senate Candidate In Alabama Judge Roy Moore Continues Campaigning Throughout The State","caption":"Embattled GOP Senate Candidate In Alabama Judge Roy Moore Continues Campaigning Throughout The State","creditText":"Drew Angerer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/senate/","name":"Senate"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5028546/roy-moore-challenger-doug-jones-leads-poll-thanks-women/","name":"Roy Moore's Democratic Challenger Surges Ahead in New Poll — Thanks to Women"}}]}] ```