New polling data obtained by Must Read Alaska shows Nick Begich has gained four points and Rep. Mary Peltola has lost 7 points among likely voters since the 2022 General Election. Both are running for Congress in 2024 in what is still an uncrowded field.
Begich, who got 24% of the first-ballot vote in the 2022 General Election, has inched up in the last year and now polls at 28% with likely voters.
Peltola, who got 49% of the first ballot in the ranked-choice election in 2022, has seen her approval slide to 42% since she took office.
She is now just slightly above President Joe Biden’s approval rating, according to aggregated polls at FiveThirtyEight.com, which show 55.4% of voters are disapproving of Biden performance.
Other Alaska congressional candidate rankings in the latest poll include Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom at 9% and potential Libertarian candidate Chris Bye at 7%. Dahlstrom announced last month, and Libertarians almost always field a candidate.
Arizonan Richard Grayson of the No Labels Party, got 2% in this poll by Remington Research Group, a national polling firm, which asked questions of 672 Alaska likely primary voters.
The news is good for Begich, as nearly 70% of Alaska Primary voters believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, the poll shows. Peltola has tied her fortunes to President Biden, and hardliners like Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, and socialist Rep. Pramila Jayapal. Peltola votes in line with President Biden 96% of the time.
Here are some of the questions and answers from the poll obtained by MRAK:
Q: Do you believe our country is headed on the right track, or going off in the wrong direction?
Right track: 20%
Wrong direction: 69%
Not sure: 10%
Voters were read one hypothetical ballot matchup for the 2024 Primary Election. In the matchup,
Republican Nick Begich is in a solid second place, with no other Republican candidate garnering double
digits.
Q: Possible candidates in the 2024 Primary Election for United States Congress are Mary Peltola:
Democrat, Nick Begich: Republican, Nancy Dahlstrom: Republican, Richard Grayson: No Labels and Chris
Bye: Libertarian. If the election were held today, for whom would you vote?
Mary Peltola: 42%
Nick Begich: 28%
Nancy Dahlstrom: 9%
Richard Grayson: 2%
Chris Bye: 7%
Undecided: 11%
The poll shows that years in government is not necessarily an advantage to a candidate in Alaska. This question on the poll, while not mentioning Begich, is going to be important to his campaign strategy as he fends off a Republican challenge from Dahlstrom, who has years of government service.
Q: When thinking about your candidate preference in a race for United States Congress, would you
prefer a candidate who has decades worth of experience in government, or a candidate who has decades
of private sector experience and started several successful small businesses?
Government experience: 32%
Private sector experience: 42%
Not sure/don’t care: 26%
Q: Do you believe candidates should step down from their current position in government when seeking
a higher political office?
Yes: 47%
No: 19%
Not sure: 33%
The top-line data as obtained by MRAK is in this document:
