Shock poll reveals Kamala Harris in touching distance of Trump in state where Democrats have lost heavily for the last 60 years
A new poll shows Vice President Kamala Harris within striking distance of former President Donald Trump in Alaska – a state Democrats have not won in a presidential election in sixty years.
The new poll was conducted by Alaska Survey Research on September 11 and 12 after the ABC News presidential debate.
It found Kamala Harris down by just five points among likely voters in the northwestern state.
Trump had 47 percent support while Harris had 42 percent, according to the poll.
The last Democrat to win the so-called Last Frontier state was President Lyndon B Johnson back in 1964. It was the only time a Democratic presidential candidate won Alaska in the state’s history.
New polling shows Harris only five points down in Alaska, a state Democrats have not won in a presidential election since 1964
Trump carried Alaska by more than 52 percent of the vote in 2020. He won it by 10 points over President Biden or just over 36,000 votes.
The 2020 results was the smallest Republican margin in a presidential race in Alaska since 1992.
In 2016, Trump won the state by more than 15 points over Hillary Clinton.
The latest polling shows him still with a lead but the gap has closed dramatically in the state since his first bid for the White House.
While Harris’ chances of winning Alaska are low, polling analyst Nate Silver wrote over the weekend that the vice president has a better chance of taking that state than Florida or Texas.
‘Our model gives Harris a 22 percent chance of carrying Alaska: considerably higher than her chances in Florida or Texas, for instance,’ Silver wrote in a blog post on Sunday.
It comes has the Harris campaign has argued that Florida is in play this year.
Poll conducted September 11 and 12 of likely voters
The polling by Alaska Survey Research found sixty-seven percent of respondents watched the presidential debate last Tuesday.
Fifty-two percent of respondents said Harris won the debate. Twenty-nine percent said Trump won.
While Alaska as been a solid red state in presidential elections, it is known for an independent streak.
Anti-Trump Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski won her reelection bid in 2020 despite Trump backing her opponent.
Democrat Mary Peltola won the special election in 2022 and then a full term in the state’s ranked choice election.
