Public Policy Polling

Begich and Parnell looking strong for 2014 re-election bids

Raleigh, N.C. – Democrat Mark Begich and Republican Sean Parnell both appear to be in strong positions for re-election in their 2014 Alaska Senate and governor’s races respectively, according to PPP’s latest poll.

Voters narrowly approve of Parnell’s job performance 46% to 44%, and he is much better known than his potential Democratic challengers. Parnell leads Ethan Berkowitz by 9 points (50/41), Scott McAdams by 18 points (52/34), Mike Navarre by 22 points (51/29) and Joe Paskvan by 26 points (51/25). Only 34% want Parnell to run for governor while 10% want him to run for Senate and 49% don’t want him to run for either office.

Voters approve of Begich’s job performance by a wider margin, 49% to 39%, and independents approve of Begich 54% to 32%. Begich also gets approval from 24% of Republican voters. If Parnell ran for Senate against Begich, the two would be tied at 48% each. Otherwise Begich leads Dan Sullivan by 6 points (47/41), Mead Treadwell by 8 points (47/39) and Sarah Palin by 16 points (54/38).

Begich leads likely challengers for reelection

PPP's new Alaska poll finds Mark Begich with pretty decent approval numbers, and leads over the Republicans who have most frequently been mentioned as possible challengers for him next year.

Begich has a 49% approval rating, with 39% of voters disapproving of him. He's holding up pretty well in the Republican leaning state because independents give him good marks by a 54/32 margin, and he has crossover support from 24% of GOP voters.

In hypothetical head to heads Begich leads Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan 47/41, Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell 47/39, former Lieutenant Governor Loren Leman 50/40, former Governor Sarah Palin 54/38, and 2010 nominee Joe Miller 58/30. Palin's numbers are a reflection of her continuing to be very unpopular on the home front- 34% of voters see her positively to 59% with a negative opinion. She looks popular by comparison to Miller though- he has only a 20% favorability rating with 63% of voters giving him poor marks.

The one Republican who would start out even with Begich is Governor Sean Parnell- the two are knotted at 48. But only 10% of Alaskans say they would like for Parnell to make a Senate bid next year and even among GOP voters 56% want Parnell to run for reelection as Governor compared to only 13% who want him to run for the Senate.