Former President Donald Trump is leading in the polls- the Alabama prison polls, that is.

A survey conducted by The Marshall Project found that the majority of Alabama inmates who responded would vote for Trump. The respondents included those who are legally barred from voting and those who could vote using an absentee ballot from behind bars.

About 54,000 people were surveyed in 785 state prisons and local jails in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Nationally, about half of respondents said they would vote for Trump. Support for the former president by white inmates remained strong throughout the 2024 election cycle, with more than 60% saying they would vote for Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris.

But some groups did change their opinions after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Nationally, just 17% of respondents said they would vote for Biden; but when Harris stepped in, that number rose to 33%.

That trend continued in Alabama.

The Marshall Project polled 900 Alabama inmates—720 of those were in state prisons and about 158 were in jails, with 22 in “other” lockups.

In Alabama, more than half of people– 53%– who took the first poll said they would vote for former President Donald Trump, according to data from The Marshall Project. About a third of respondents said they identified as Independent, while 26% identified as Republican and 18% as Democrat. The party affiliations were similar to a national average.

The Marshall Project cautioned that the survey isn’t representative of the overall prison population.

The survey was conducted twice—once while Biden was the Democratic nominee, and the second when Harris stepped in to fill the ticket’s top slot this summer.

When asked if they approved of Biden’s presidency, 66% of Alabamians who responded said no. And, 25% said they had no opinion. The disapproval number was about 10% higher than the national average.

When asked their opinion on Harris, the results were split: 34% said they had a favorable opinion, while another 34% said they had an unfavorable opinion. That’s in addition to another third, who said they either had no opinion of the vice president or had never heard of her.

About 38% of Alabama respondents said they didn’t plan to vote.

In the first survey, when Biden was the Democratic pick, just 13% said they would vote for Biden. Others wrestled between a third-party candidate or not voting at all.

A woman who is locked up at Julia Tutwiler Prison told The Marshall Project she didn’t support Harris. “My personal opinion is I don’t think she would be good. She is a people pleaser,” said the woman, whose name The Marshall Project didn’t publish.

“I and many other ladies are pro-life. Only incest or rape should be reason for an abortion and she isn’t for the incarcerated. All she wants to do is bury someone under the prisons, so that’s my views.”

In the second survey, after Harris replaced Biden as the nominee, Trump’s hold on inmates lessened slightly. Approximately 48% of Alabama inmates polled said they would still elect Trump, but 33% supported Harris.

First woman president?

About half of those surveyed said the country is ready to elect the first woman president.

“I believe she is qualified…I just don’t believe she is the right person for the job based on everything that is going on in the world at this time,” said a white man who supports Trump and is incarcerated at G. K. Fountain Correctional Facility.

One man, who was also behind bars at Fountain and said he would vote for a third-party candidate, said character mattered. “Let’s vote for a candidate who is going to lead by a moral framework, not political posturing.”

Most of the Alabama inmates who responded to The Marshall Project’s survey, which was done on prison-provided tablets, were between the ages of 26-55. About 32% of respondents had a high school education or GED. Of those polled, 38% were ineligible to vote, 33% could vote (by absentee ballot), and 27% weren’t sure what their eligibility was.

In Alabama, there are approximately 40 crimes that can make someone ineligible to vote. The state Constitution bans people convicted of crimes of “moral turpitude” the right to vote.

The state does allow people convicted of certain disqualifying felonies to apply to have their voting rights restored if they have completed their sentences, parole and/or probationary period and paid all court fines and court-ordered restitution.

When asked if Trump should be imprisoned following his conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York, 26% of Alabama inmates who responded said Trump should be locked up. A white woman at Tutwiler put it this way:

“Because he did the crime he should pay. Just like others have.”