A recent poll that was conducted on May 3-7 with a sample group of 508 voters by Anzalone-List Research of Montgomery shows 7th District United States Representative Artur Davis severely defeating his challenger Albert Turner, Jr. by a margin of 74 percent for Davis to 5 percent for Turner. 80 percent of the surveyed said they were “fairly certain” they would be voting the same way come June 1, when the Democratic primary election will be held.

Davis said when hearing about results of the survey, “We have always known that if we did the work and told the people about our efforts, we would meet with success.”

Davis official spokesperson Corey A. Ealons said Davis’s support continues to grow across economic and racial lines as more people become aware of him and his work during his first 16 months in office.

“We’ll continue to work hard in the final weeks of this campaign to ensure that voters turn out and that we receive the overwhelming victory that our record merits,” Davis said.

Numbers for the Black Belt have increased dramatically for Davis since December from 60 percent to 76 percent. Meanwhile, Turner’s support has collapsed nearly in half from 9 percent to 5 percent since December.

“These numbers prove that when you work hard and the people see you in the area more in the last 16 months, then any previous Congressman than they reward you with numbers like these taken in the survey,” Ealons said.

Davis enjoys name recognition of 78 percent and draws a broad range of support with an overall favorable rating of 74 percent to four percent unfavorable. This includes a 74 percent favorable rating among whites and a 73 percent rating among minorities.

“This just proves that Davis is a strong incumbent and we just hope that everyone who took a chance on him during the last election will reaffirm their votes on June 1,” Ealons said.

Davis’ overall job approval scores 78 percent with both whites and minorities offering resounding support for the first-time congressman. Ealons said over the next two weeks they are working hard to get everyone out to vote during the primary.

“After the election is over and come June 2, it will be back to business as usual for the congressman,” Ealons said, “He will continue to be visible, accessible, and making the Black Belt a priority in Washington.”