This is part of what I really like about California's top-two primary system - in a dominant-party system like we have, we end up in a situation where two candidates of the dominant party have to compete on ideology and policy, and the members of the minority party still get an equal say.

With regards to Alabama, the general vibe I've gotten is that the very large evangelical bloc in the state is conflicted - trapped between very strongly held policy preferences (especially on abortion and LGBT rights) and their views on personal morality. Moore has seen a large slide in the polls, including among evangelicals, but there are a lot that are willing to hold their noses and disbelieve for their preferred policies.

See this very interesting write-up: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-values-that-values-...