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What Democrats' Win In Alaska Tells Us About November
FiveThirtyEight ^ | 09/02/2022 | Nathaniel Rakitch

Posted on 09/01/2022 8:20:08 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

For the second time in as many weeks, Democrats have won a competitive special election. And by the numbers, this win was even more impressive than last week’s victory in New York’s 19th District.

On Wednesday, the Alaska Division of Elections announced that former state Rep. Mary Peltola had defeated former Gov. Sarah Palin in the special election for the state’s vacant U.S. House seat, becoming the first Alaska Native ever elected to Congress and the first Democrat to win a statewide election since 2008.

[SNIP]

Democrats have clearly overperformed in special elections since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson in June, but the reasons for Peltola’s win may have been more local than national.

Namely, Palin was a very flawed candidate. After her 2008 vice-presidential campaign flopped, Palin resigned the governorship (reportedly amid ethics investigations), bought a house in Arizona and went on to appear on reality TV — giving Alaskans the sense that she had abandoned them. According to a July poll from Alaska Survey Research, 61 percent of Alaska registered voters had a negative opinion of her. It’s hard to win with those kinds of numbers.

It seems likely then, that had a different Republican advanced to the final round, Peltola would have lost. According to that same poll — which almost exactly nailed the final margin between Peltola and Palin — Begich would have defeated Peltola 55 percent to 45 percent if he had made it to the final round instead of her. That would still have been bluer than Alaska’s R+15 partisan lean, but it mostly demonstrates how much of Republicans’ underperformance here may have been due to simple candidate quality (or lack thereof).

What’s more, that Republican underperformance disappears if you look not at the results from the final round, but rather at only first-choice votes.

THIS IS AN EXCERPT. CLICK ON THE ABOVE ARTICLE LINK FOR THE REST



TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: alaska; congress; democrats; nathanielrakitch; november
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To: SeekAndFind
BS..., all we learned from the Alaska election was that their ranked voting guarantees one party loses when it has 2 candidates in the top three to split the vote!
21 posted on 09/01/2022 10:10:00 PM PDT by ExSES (the "bottomhttps://youtu.be/ycrqXJYf1SU-line")
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To: Maris Crane

It will be the same 4 candidates again. Palin got no where near 51% of the vote - why would she suddenly get 20% more next time around?


22 posted on 09/01/2022 11:25:20 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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Republican a-holes predictably splitting the vote — the reason we lost the GA Senate seat.


23 posted on 09/01/2022 11:29:41 PM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Maris Crane

Yup! God bless and send Mama Bear to Congress in November!


24 posted on 09/01/2022 11:34:09 PM PDT by antceecee
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To: july4thfreedomfoundation; All

Ranked choice voting is being pushed by this organization: https://www.fairvote.org/rcv#where_is_ranked_choice_voting_used ...the number 2 person on FairVote’s BoD is a top Soros lieutenant.

RCV is very dangerous and is already being used in various elections/primaries or authorized for use at the local level in many states. It is a RINO/Leftist/Administrative State collaberation to destroy our Republican form of government.

Go here for a very good analysis: https://thecharliekirkshow.com/podcasts/the-charlie-kirk-show/raising-the-red-flag-on-ranked-choice-voting


25 posted on 09/02/2022 12:06:01 AM PDT by Ozymandias Ghost
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To: Maris Crane

Yes


26 posted on 09/02/2022 12:43:29 AM PDT by Aussiebabe
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To: Maris Crane

“I think that means, in the whack job system in Alaska, Palin stands a good chance of winning in November, after all if she only gets 51 percent of the vote, Palin wins.”

Nope, the 3rd place loser R will also be on the Nov ballot and will split the R votes so the demonrat wins.


27 posted on 09/02/2022 1:13:18 AM PDT by Beagle8U ("Per DNC instructions...Joy Reid is busy packing marbles up her @$$.")
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To: SeekAndFind

They moved to ranked choice voting, which as far as I’m concerned isn’t democratic at all. It can ensure a permanent Democrat rule.


28 posted on 09/02/2022 2:08:52 AM PDT by Tacrolimus1mg (Do no harm, but take no sh!t.)
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To: SeekAndFind

To get the desired desired under an RCV system requires that voters are educated on how to vote. Without doing some research it seems to me that if voters had voted for Palin, only Palin with no secondary selections, she would have won. The state cannot throw out ballots with only one choice because that will bring lawsuits charging voter suppression.


29 posted on 09/02/2022 2:36:01 AM PDT by ByteMercenary (Slo-Joe and KamalHo are not my leaders.)
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To: nbenyo
Useful Idiot and assumed DU operative

Cherry Picking Elections to peddle your Give UP , Don't bother voting crap .

Alaska voted 60 % Gop idiot but it was split because The Lisa M crooked Family ran someone to stop Palin at costs .

Get your fact straight before posting Lies here . The NY election was a Biden district and spun by the NY Radical left wing media as great victory .

Your very energized and Happy to Peddle Gloom
and Doom here .

30 posted on 09/02/2022 3:01:11 AM PDT by ncalburt (they Gop DC Globalists are the evil)
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To: SeekAndFind

It proves the fallacy that is ranked choice voting, at minimum.


31 posted on 09/02/2022 3:25:32 AM PDT by PubliusMM (RKBA; a matter of fact, not opinion. The Dhimmicraps are ALL Traitors. All of them.)
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To: SeekAndFind
After her 2008 vice-presidential campaign flopped...

It's pretty hard to win as a running mate when the head of the ticket throws the election. Remember McCain said we had nothing to fear from an Obama presidency. He gave it away then and there.

32 posted on 09/02/2022 3:29:45 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Fox News is CNN-Lite.)
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To: SeekAndFind

rank voting is another way to steal an election


33 posted on 09/02/2022 3:44:52 AM PDT by ronnie raygun
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To: ncalburt

If I am correct there were some other ballot issues with the voting in ny 19
Everyone seems to conveniently forget the flipping of liberal school boards in Florida


34 posted on 09/02/2022 4:29:59 AM PDT by italianquaker
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To: italianquaker

Florida will be an outlier in November.


35 posted on 09/02/2022 4:33:31 AM PDT by Clemenza
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To: bigfootbob

If it was strictly between palin and the democrat, a story for sure. But with two republicans in the race, I’m not sure they should be bragging.


36 posted on 09/02/2022 5:10:33 AM PDT by napscoordinator (Trump/Hunter, jr for President/Vice President 2016 democratic )
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To: Clemenza

30 plus seats in the house easy


37 posted on 09/02/2022 5:11:14 AM PDT by italianquaker
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To: italianquaker

There weren’t other ballot issues in NY 19

1- the seat in NY 19 was held by a demoKKKrat to begin with- it was a hold, not a flip

2- the special election was held in the existing NY 19, which has been redistricted in the GOP’s favor for the upcoming November election

3- the Republican candidate who lost is a spineless, cowardly, NY RiNO named Marc Molinaro, who publicly stated he did not vote for President Trump in 2016. Unfortunately he’s on the ticket in November.


38 posted on 09/02/2022 5:15:13 AM PDT by God luvs America (63.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
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To: God luvs America

A lil more than that the particulars I don’t recall but read in the ny post either way 30 plus seats for the gop


39 posted on 09/02/2022 5:31:08 AM PDT by italianquaker
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To: italianquaker

The criminal media keep making it about abortion- but search FR and the economy is the number one issue moving towards November according to polls.

The criminal media keep telling us what a great few weeks der fuhrer biden has had- yet search FR and a recent Reuters polls has him at the lowest JA they’ve ever had him at.


40 posted on 09/02/2022 5:34:38 AM PDT by God luvs America (63.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
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