Poll leaves State Auditor race out of general election altogether

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Jim Zeigler_Miranda Joseph

With the November 6 General Election less than 100 days away, candidates are anxious to know where they stand in the polls.

On Monday Cygnal, a Montgomery, Ala.-based political data firm, posted polling results for the General Election with an unexpected twist: the State Auditor’s race was completely missing.

Cygnal polled 1,027 likely general election voters from July 24-25 asking which candidates the survey participants were most likely to vote for. The survey included all statewide elections and their candidates except Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Rick Pate who faces no Democratic opponent and has presumably already won his November election, and the State Auditor’s race.

“I always wear it as a badge of honor when I am left out of polls, commentaries, analyses, contribution lists, invitation lists, etc,” State Auditor Jim Zeigler said. “It is amazing how often the politicos act as if there is no State Auditor. Though the pollsters and politicos hide it, I won the Republican nomination without a runoff and am on the ballot Nov. 6 against a Democrat opponent.”

Zeigler won his primary election with 55 percent of the vote and now faces Democratic opponent Miranda Joseph in the November general election; causing a bit of deja-vu for voters as Zeigler previously defeated Joseph in 2014.

“We couldn’t afford to put Jim Ziegler in the survey because he would’ve dominated the Democratic opponent at an embarrassing level,” said Matt Hubbard, Cygnal VP Research, jokingly. “Actually, we totally forgot to include the race.”

The results of the poll were fairly conclusive: big wins for Republicans.

According to the release by Cygnal, the survey they conducted shows Republicans with a “14-point lead over Democratic candidates, with incumbent Governor Kay Ivey leading Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox 56% to 42%.”