Mike Rogers, the Republican, holds a 54 to 33 percent lead over Josh Segall, the Democrat, in the race for Congress in District 3, even though Democrats have a marginal lead in political party self-identification, according to the Capital Survey Research Center, the polling arm of the Alabama Education Association, the state’s teachers’ union.

The most important issue to the people in the area is not surprisingly the economy and jobs. The most influential factors in determining the vote are “record/experience” and “honesty/integrity.”

More voters identify themselves as independents and Democrats than Republicans in the district, according to the survey, with 35 percent saying they are independent, 35 percent saying Democrat and only 27 percent reporting themselves as Republicans, a function of national rather than state party identification, according to Gerald Johnson, the poll director.

The survey of 468 “likely voters” was conducted August 13-14 and 18. The margin of error is 4.5 percent.