31% of Alaskans support Sarah Palin's new House campaign. But 51% say they have an unfavorable opinion of her.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin leaves a federal courthouse in New York City on February 4, 2022.
AP Photo/John Minchillo

A new poll found that Sarah Palin leads the field in Alaska's special House election with 31% support.
But a majority of voters hold an unfavorable opinion of her, spelling trouble in a ranked-choice election.
Trump endorsed Palin, but lots of other Republicans are staying away for now.

A new poll has found that Sarah Palin is leading the field of candidates in a special election for Alaska's at-large House seat.

The poll, commissioned by Must Read Alaska and conducted by Remington Research Strategies, surveyed 955 voters who said they're likely to vote in the 2022 primary from April 7 to 9.

Asked who they would support if the election were held today, a plurality of respondents said they supported Palin, a former Alaska governor is running to fill the state's lone congressional seat vacant since the death in March of 88-year-old Rep. Don Young.

31% - Palin
26% - Independent candidate Al Gross
21% - Republican official Nick Begich
7% - Democratic Anchorage Assembly member Christopher Constant
3% - Republican State Sen. Josh Revak
2% - Republican former Interior official Tara Sweeney

Another 4% of voters said they supported one of the other several dozen candidates that have declared to run in the special election, including a self-described democratic socialist North Pole city council member named Santa Claus. 6% said they were undecided.

Just 12% of poll respondents said they had no opinion of Palin, the state's controversial one-time governor who rocketed to national stardom as the vice presidential running mate of of 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

But that same poll also found that 51% of Alaska voters held an unfavorable view of Palin — roughly equal to the percentage that said they held an unfavorable view of Gross, who ran for Senate last year. But Palin's unfavorable ratings were far higher than those of either Begich or Revak.

That could spell trouble for Palin, given that Alaska voters will for the first time be using a ranked-choice ballot for the special election.

Voters will be able to choose one of roughly 50 candidates on June 11 in a "jungle primary" in which only the top four candidates will advance. After that, a special general election will happen on August 16, where voters will rank those four candidates.

Under ranked-choice voting systems, the lowest ranking candidates in terms of vote count are eliminated — with their supporters' second (or third, or fourth) choice vote redistributed to other candidates until one candidate exceeds 50%.

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — a long-time foe of Palin's who running for re-election herself this fall — told Insider last week that she would not be making an endorsement before June 11.

"I'm going to just challenge the press to take a look at some of the others, because there's some folks with real good qualifications," Murkowski told Insider in an obvious snub of Palin. "I'm just telling you, you're not in Alaska's bubble, because Alaskans are talking about the others."

Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Palin, giving her campaign a crucial boost.

But recent reporting has also indicated that Palin has had little presence within Alaska politics as of late, a charge that she sought to rebut in an interview with the Anchorage Daily News on Friday.

"If they've taken issue that I haven't been hobnobbing around, in the halls of the Juneau Capitol, and been to their cocktail parties and all that, nope. Most normal people don't do that," she told the paper.

And even nationally, Palin's star has faded. Last week, Insider asked several Republican senators who once gladly accepted (and benefitted from) the one-time vice presidential nominee's endorsement. Only Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky told Insider that he would return the favor and endorse Palin, while most others demurred or declined to comment.

"Well, I think that'll be up to the people of Alaska," said Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who was endorsed by, campaigned with, and was even compared to Palin when she first ran for the Senate in 2014.

Read the original article on Business Insider