Poll: Large majority believes Moore should drop out

Americans believe by a nearly three-to-one margin that Alabama Republican Roy Moore should drop out of the race for the state’s Senate seat, according to a new poll released Tuesday. 

Sixty-three percent of Americans say that Moore should step aside amid mounting allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls, according to the Quinnipiac University poll. Only 23 percent surveyed believe he should stay in the race. 

“Roy Moore has to go, say American voters,” said Tim Mallow, assistant director of the Quinnipiac survey. “But the only voters who matter are in Alabama.”

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Moore has reaffirmed his commitment to continue the race, despite the growing number of Senate Republicans calling for him to end his candidacy. 

However, 43 percent of all voters say they disapprove of how Republican officials have handled the accusations, while only 25 percent approve. 

Republicans are torn on the issue, with 31 percent offering their approval, 29 percent disapproving and 40 percent, a plurality, unsure. 

Voters believe, 51 percent to 19 percent, that the charges against Moore are true. 

GOP Senate leadership has mentioned the possibility of a write-in candidate for the December election to oppose Moore, and some have threatened to expel him from the chamber if he wins. 

The Washington Post first reported the testimony of a woman who says she was 14 when Moore, then a 32-year-old district attorney, engaged in a sexual encounter with her. Other women said that Moore pursued them romantically while they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his 30s.  

On Monday, a new accuser said the Senate hopeful had sexually assaulted her when she was 16, offering a signature she says he left in her high school yearbook as evidence.

Moore has denied any sexual misconduct and says he’s never met his latest accuser.

Quinnipiac University questioned 937 voters about Moore via landlines and cellphones. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.