The difference does matter, because it's important for Democrats to see their strategy(ies) moving forward.
Jones didn't win because he was a stalwart individual, again this is where the margin is important. The accusations against Moore were hammered for weeks and weeks as more and more evidence came out, and yet this is the result?
Also worth noting that Jones isn't really going to hold this; more likely is him losing in the next election season. He didn't win over the people of Alabama, enough people were just turned off of Roy Moore (again bc pedophilia, but EVEN THEN only 1.5%) to not vote for him.
Doug Jones is openly, unabashedly pro-choice. To some people, being a man who has possibly touched little girls is less of an issue than being a man who DEFINITELY wants to murder babies. You and I both know that's not what abortion is, but try telling that to the people of Alabama. We've had that fight often enough on NSM for you to know the outcome.
People have different morals. Is it gross and horrible? Of course - it's privileging the lives of unborn fetuses which lack the capacity of independent thought over the lives of real, actual humans that were forever negatively affected by Roy Moore's actions. But not everyone shares our morals and understands the difference. To some people, the choice may as well have been between a murderer (the actual state of victims be damned) or a sexual predator. Which is worse? I don't even know how to answer that myself. And some people will definitely say "the murderer because at least the victims of a sexual predator are still alive".
I'm not saying that Doug Jones being pro-choice is the biggest reason Alabama didn't vote him in by a wider margin. But he did refuse to compromise on that. He went to one of the most anti-abortion states in the country, said "I am pro-choice", and got elected in spite of that. Sure, it was only because of the perfect storm of bad decisions by the Republicans and the allegations against Roy Moore that he got anywhere at all. But you could probably have videotapes of Roy Moore molesting a child and some people would STILL rather vote him in than - gasp - a Democrat.
I know you want to believe better of people than this. I know you're disappointed that the margin was so small, that it should have been a landslide victory for Jones because who the fuck would vote Moore into office, but you have to remember that not everyone shares your morals, and that sucks but that's how it is.
I repeat, as someone with a significant Southern history: The fact that ENOUGH people out of the state of Alabama shares your morals to tip the scales is astounding. The margin was tiny, sure, but this was a state where Trump won something like 70% of the vote to Hillary's 30%. You are expecting too much if you think the state will resoundingly reject Roy Moore. Maybe if the entire state were made up of people like you, but there's a reason it isn't, and there's a reason it's a red state, and there's a reason there are so many negative stereotypes about the South. What they did is amazing regardless of how long Jones will hold office and regardless of the margin.
