polling doesnt work well in alaska
for fedreral seats.because you can usually only poll white folks in cities reliably which holds the highest population of democrats. Add to that the fact that bush alaska is overwhelmingly democrat EXCEPT for the federal seats where they hold stevens and young in reverence.
I notice that the source of the article doesnt mention or appear to know about polls in the bush where few households have telephones and a deep suspicion of strangers asking questions
Absentee ballots usually break the same way as the votes but in this case may be higher for stevens because the National Guard is overseas, they are largly native troops from traditional areas.
Questioned ballots are usually in the population centers because of showing up at the wrong polling place.
Every federal election the ADN trumpets polls that show democrats finally taking the seats from ted and don, then they scratch their heads after the votes come in.
The polls dont take into effect that alaskans are very polarized towards the trial blaming a political washington witch hunt. Most insisted that the trial should have been held in alaska.
As far as Begich himself, I have had a lot of conversations with him over the years and he would make an excellent senator after Ted dies or is retired. Although democratic he is hugely pragmatic. As an example while assemblyman he would actually look at every line item in the municipal budget and understand what he was looking at.
