Here’s the latest news out of Alaska:
Republican Mike Dunleavy’s lead in the race for governor has become razor thin. That’s according to the latest tracking poll by Alaska Survey Research.
Dunleavy led Democrat Mark Begich 42.5 percent to 42.3 percent in the poll, which was taken from last Friday through Monday.
Pollster Ivan Moore said the number of people who view Begich positively has grown steadily since September, while those who view Dunleavy negatively has also grown.
“This race might end up being the latest in a long tradition of very close Alaska elections,” Moore said.
Independent Gov. Bill Walker drew 7.7 percent, though most of his supporters know he ended his campaign.
Moore said some of those Walker backers may shift to other candidates – particularly Begich.
The poll of 500 likely voters was fielded between Oct. 26 and 29 using cellphones and landline telephones. The data was weighted to generate a representative sample of all Alaskans and has a 4.4 percent margin of error with a 95 percent confidence interval.
The poll was not funded by either campaign, said Ivan Moore, director of Alaska Survey Research, in a press release accompanying the poll results.
The poll also asked respondents if they had already voted, then asked who people had voted for. Among the 67 people who had already cast their votes, 34 said they had voted for Begich, 32 for Dunleavy and one for Walker.
Among the 433 people who said they will be voting later, 41.6 percent said Dunleavy, 41 percent said Begich, 8.8 said Walker, 3.8 percent said Toien, and 4.8 percent were undecided.
For the 39 people who said they will be voting for Walker, the person conducting the poll by phone informed them that Walker has dropped out of the race but will still appear on the ballot.
“Knowing this, if the 2018 general election for governor of Alaska was held today … for whom would you vote for governor?” the poll asked.
Of those 39 people, 20 said Begich, four said Toien, five were undecided and eight said they would still vote for Walker. None said Dunleavy. Most of the 39 had heard of the governor’s withdrawal from the race; only eight had not.
That question changed the results of the poll: When prompted that Walker had withdrawn, his support dropped to 2 percent. Begich’s support rose to 46.3 percent, and Dunleavy’s support was unchanged.
This race is ours for the taking. Let’s help get out the vote for Begich and his fellow Democrats. Click below:
