A poll of Republican voters shows Gov. Kay Ivey with a substantial lead in the GOP primary but shows her top two challengers gaining enough ground to force a runoff.
The polling firm Cygnal conducted the survey of 600 likely Republican voters on May 6-7 for Alabama Daily News and Gray Television. Alabama Daily News reported the results this morning.
The primary is May 24.
Asked who they would vote for if the primary were held today, 40% chose Ivey, 17.9% chose businessman Tim James, and 14.6% chose former Trump administration ambassador Lindy Blanchard.
Lew Burdette was in fourth place at 5.8%, followed by Dean Odle at 3.5%, and Dean Young at 0.6%.
Among other respondents, 3.5% chose someone else and 13.8% were undecided.
There are nine GOP candidates, including Dave Thomas, Stacy George, and Donald Trent Jones.
The margin of error for the poll was plus or minus 3.99%.
The numbers show a tightening of the race since March, when a similar Cygnal poll showed Ivey with 46.1%, James with 12.4%, and Blanchard with 10.4%.
If none of the candidates gets more than 50%, a runoff between the top two will be on June 21.
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