Alaska House Majority Caucus leadership Thursday released the results of their annual in-depth poll conducted by Dittman Research & Communications. The survey carries substantial insights into Alaskans’ opinions on issues before the 28th Alaska Legislature.
Dittman Corp. surveyed 800 Alaskans last week (March 13-14), resulting in a 3.4-percent margin of error. All regions of the state were represented and balanced to the 2010 Census. The House traditionally commissions a poll to help inform members and the public on priority issues before the Legislature.
“Alaskans, generally, feel our economy is stable, and support many of the issues we have identified,” Alaska Speaker of the House Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, said. “They agree with us that we need to modify our oil tax system to make us competitive, and build an in-state gasline for in-state use. Alaskans, also, want the chance to decide whether we amend our constitution to allow parents the right to choose where to send their kids to school. Dittman Research and staff have provided us with another top-shelf document we can add to our discussions over the course of the next three weeks. It’s a valuable and informative tool to help us understand where Alaskans stand on issues before the legislature.”
Newsworthy highlights include:
– A majority of Alaskans (53%) would give Alaska public schools a grade of “C” or below
– Alaskans have an overwhelmingly bad opinion of the federal government (2-1 negative)
– Continued extremely strong support for a gas line, with 60% saying the most important benefit would be in-state use (same percentage as last year)
– When asked to choose which line they would prefer, the line designed primarily for in-state use (AGDC/ASAP) is picked by a wide margin (54-35%)
– Continued strong support for ACES oil tax reform (54-32%) and overwhelming support for legislative action versus studying the issue further – 68% of Alaskans say “it is time for the legislature to act.”
– Strong public support for School Choice (56-36%), with Alaskans supporting placing a constitutional amendment before voters to allow parents to choose the right school for their child and allow public funds to follow the child. Additionally, by a 2-1 margin, Alaskans believe that school choice will create a healthy competition that will improve overall performance of Alaska schools.
– Huge support for efforts to fight new federal gun control laws (67-23%) for Majority House and Senate positions.
– Finally, astonishingly only 1 in 10 Alaskans know that oil taxes contribute 90% of state revenues.
Top-line survey results are available online here.
