New AARP polling shows public menace Sarah Palin losing the Alaska Congressional race — again.
An Alaska Congressional race already took place this year, and the winner, Democratic contender and former state legislator Mary Peltola, is currently serving out the remainder of the last term of the late Rep. Don Young (R), with whom Peltola’s family was acquainted. In November, Alaska voters will once again vote on the question of who should represent them in the House (the state has just one U.S. House seat), and Palin, who is running again, is behind Peltola by a significant amount in the final results from AARP’s recent polling.
The survey was conducted by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates and Impact Research. Alaska will use a ranked choice voting system for the general election. Under these rules, participating voters can select more than one candidate and rank their choices. If no contender passes 50 percent — which Peltola is surprisingly close to doing in the first round of results from the AARP polling, then the candidate in last place is eliminated, with their supporters’ ballots getting appropriately reallocated. In the AARP survey numbers, the first round of results in a ranked choice match-up sees Peltola with 46 percent and Palin with 31 percent. Nick Begich III, another Republican contender who is also running again, had 20 percent. Once participants’ support was reallocated to the point that one of the candidates passed 50 percent, Peltola came in with 53 percent, and Palin had 47 percent.
The new polling also found that Peltola’s public image is substantially more positive than what Alaskans think of Palin. A full 49 percent viewed Petola favorably; for Palin, it was just 39 percent, and the portion viewing her unfavorably far surpassed Peltola’s. In the final round, a little over half of Begich’s supporters’ backing was reallocated to Palin — far under what’s needed. When Peltola originally won, the final numbers were about the same, suggesting these figures are right on target. “Half of the Alaskans who made Begich their first choice ranked Palin second, and 21 percent did not make a second choice,” according to The Washington Post. “The remaining 29 percent — a surprisingly large fraction, even to some of Peltola’s supporters — ranked Peltola second.” Young held the seat — keeping it in the control of the Republicans — for decades. Ranked choice voting, which is also used elsewhere, helps ensure the final winner reflects a majority opinion.
Image: Gage Skidmore, available under a Creative Commons license
