A statewide poll that came out last week shows Steve Marshall in the lead in the open race for a U.S. Senate seat.
Marshall, who has served as the Alabama attorney general since 2017, pulled 30% of support from likely voters in the May GOP primary. The seat is open as Sen. Tommy Tuberville is leaving Washington after one term to run for governor.
Marshall is the top candidate in the field but still trails “undecided,” at 46%. Rep. Barry Moore of Enterprise pulled 12%, Jared Hudson was at 8%, Rodney Walker 3% and Morgan Murphy 1%.
Marshall also posted the highest favorability rating, 45%, compared to 12% unfavorable. That beat out former University of Alabama and NFL quarterback A.J. McCarron (44% favorable/14% unfavorable), who was a candidate for lieutenant governor before dropping out to take a job as head coach of the Birmingham Stallions spring pro football league team.
The poll showed the major theme for the Republican primary will be “affordability.”
“The 2026 Republican primaries will be won on the issues, and if you’re not talking about lowering costs for families, you’re not winning,” said Michael Lowry, principal of The Alabama Poll.
“This survey shows that affordability isn’t a side issue — it’s the main event, and it’s likely to define how voters evaluate candidates up and down the ballot.”
Cost-of-living issues were seen as a major issue in two off-year Public Service Commission races in Georgia in 2025, with two Democrats unseating Republican incumbents.
That carries over in The Alabama Poll, where the top issues were identified as inflation/cost of living (28%), insurance costs (12%) and the economy and jobs (11%).
Other major issues were safety and security (18%).
Asked to select the two cost categories causing the most concern, the top responses were groceries and food (58%), insurance costs (33%) and health care (30%).
The poll didn’t look at the governor’s race, where Gov. Kay Ivey is barred from seeking a third full term. But it showed McCarron was leading the lieutenant governor’s race before he dropped out to return to football with 31% support from likely voters. Trailing him were Wes Allen (18%), Rick Pate (8%) and Nicole Wadsworth (2%), with 41% undecided.
The race to succeed Marshall as attorney general is also wide-open with 72% undecided. Jay Mitchell leads named candidates with 12%, followed by Katherine Robertson at 10% and Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey at 7%.
Douglas Mayor Corey Hill is within the poll’s margin of error for the lead for agriculture commissioner. Jack Williams leads at 10% with Hill at 7% and Christina Woerner McInnis at 5%. Nearly 8 in 10 votes are undecided in the race to succeed Pate.
While Alabama candidates scrap for an edge in the primaries, one politician enjoys wide support in the state. President Donald Trump had 88% among likely Republican primary voters, including 95% among self-described conservatives and 96% among Republicans.
The Alabama Poll is a subscription-based public opinion research service. Its poll surveyed 600 people likely to vote in the May 26 Republican primary using landline and cellphone interviews and text-to-online surveys. The poll had a margin of error of plus/minus 4%.
David Clemons is an Albertville native who published newspapers in Alabama and Georgia and now works in health care marketing in Atlanta. His email address is [email protected].
Corey Hill speaks to supporters in Albertville as he kicks off his campaign for agriculture and industries commissioner on Aug. 28, 2025. The Douglas mayor is within the margin of error for the lead in his race, according to The Alabama Poll released last week. DANIEL TAYLOR | 2025 FILE | 1819 NEWS
