Huntingdon College: Political Science and Public and International Affairs programs
Collection of articles on Judge Roy Moore and the
Ten Commandments monument issue
Compiled by Jeremy Lewis, for my students' research purposes, revised 7 Sep '03.
THOMAS SPENCER, "Voters split on Moore,
like display, poll says."
Birminghmam News staff writer
09/07/03
Two-thirds of Alabama voters think the Ten Commandments should be
displayed in the state judicial building, but about half think Chief
Justice
Roy Moore was wrong when he refused a federal court order to remove
a
granite monument of the commandments.
A poll last week of 600 registered voters showed 68 percent supporting
Moore's position that the Ten Commandments should be displayed on public
property. Forty-nine percent said he should not have defied
an order to
remove a 5,280-pound monument from the rotunda of the judicial building
in Montgomery.
The survey was conducted Tuesday through Thursday for The Birmingham
News and television stations FOX 6 in Birmingham, WHNT in Huntsville
and WSFA in Montgomery.
"Obviously, he has got a popular issue, and it's made him popular,"
said
Larry Powell, a UAB communications professor who conducted the
survey.
Asked their impressions of Moore, 63 percent rated him positively.
He
enjoyed favorable rating from whites and blacks, Democrats and
Republicans. Twenty-four percent had an unfavorable impression
of the
judge, and 13 percent were undecided or did not know who he was.
Only when it came to defying the court order to remove the monument
did
Moore lose support. Forty percent said he was right to defy the
order by
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson, and 11 percent said they were
unsure.
By defying the court, Moore "is pushing the edge," Powell said, "but
they
still like his basic stand."
A majority of Democrats, 51 percent, believed Moore was wrong to
defy
the order, while 36 percent believed he was right. Republicans were
evenly
divided, with 46 percent believing he was right and 46 saying he was
wrong.
Fifty-nine percent of upper-income voters said Moore was wrong to
defy
the order, compared with 45 percent of low-income respondents.
"There is no mistaking it: This is the Bible Belt," said David
LaNoue,
chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama.
"Clearly, a majority of Alabamians of all groups support the
commandments being displayed on public property."