Republican women abandon Roy Moore in new Fox poll

As more accusers have come forward in the Roy Moore child molestation and sexual assault scandal, the GOP candidate has gone to extreme lengths to deflect the attacks.

Moore has used every dirty tactic in the book to muddy the waters, first accusing both Democrats and Republican elites of trying to railroad him, then sending his lawyers after journalists who reported the story, then going after the victims themselves.

But a new poll from Fox News shows that Moore is failing in a big way.

The poll finds that overall, Moore is down 8 points against his Democratic opponent, former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones — one of several recent polls to show him down. But the most striking numbers are on women voters in particular.

According to the Fox News poll, Moore is losing women to Jones by an astonishing 26 points.

In Alabama, registered Republicans outnumber Democrats 2 to 1. So in order for Moore’s numbers to be this bad, Republican women would have to be crossing over in substantial numbers.

That’s reflected in the new poll numbers, which show that nearly one in five Republican women are throwing their support behind Moore’s Democratic challenger.

Women in general appear to be experiencing second thoughts about backing the Republican Party. A new focus group of women who voted for Trump in North Carolina expressed embarrassment and buyer’s remorse about their decision.

The political environment over the last year has given America an ugly dose of reality about far-right extremism. And even though Moore is refusing to confront his own history of predatory behavior, it is increasingly apparent that women in his state are doing it for him.