August 2003 Public Opinion Survey Results

Between August 16 and August 25, using a combination of electronic and in-person polling methods, a total of 508 people completed the public opinion survey shown below.  For a population the size of Alaska this number of respondents provides a very small margin of error.  The purpose of this survey was to determine whether the public agreed with Governor Murkowski's veto of the Longevity Bonus program, changes made to campaign finance laws, a proposed constitutional amendment dealing with the Permanent Fund, and the new definition of a lobbyist.  Also asked was the public-perception question about who the legislature actually represents.

These statistics show a major disconnect between what the people want and what they are getting.  It is obvious that many of our elected officials have chosen to completely ignore the people’s will.  Future elections will provide a method for removing these undesirable representatives from office.  Recalls would speed up this process considerably!

Results of previous public opinion surveys and other examples of legislative disconnect can be found on the Statistics page: http://www.akvoters.org/statistics.htm   Feel free to share these survey results with every legislator in Alaska, media (newspapers, radio, TV) statewide, and the governor!  Don’t forget to tell your friends, family, and neighbors too!

 Survey Questions and Results:

1.  Are you registered to vote in Alaska?

          Yes:  94.2%          No:  4.3%          Don’t Know/Not Sure:  1.5%

2.  Do you agree with Governor Murkowski’s veto of the Longevity Bonus program?

          Yes:  17.6%          No:  71.4%          Don’t Know/Not Sure:  11.0%

3.  Should your legislator’s position on the Longevity Bonus program special session be made public?

          Yes:  88.9%          No:  6.9%          Don’t Know/Not Sure:  4.2%

4.  Governor Murkowski had Senate Bill 119 introduced, where it passed mostly along party lines.  SB 119 allows individual campaign contributions each calendar year to increase from $500 to $1,000 for each candidate and from $5,000 to $10,000 for political parties.  Do you agree with this change?

          Yes:  15.3%          No:  71.0%          Don’t Know/Not Sure:  13.7%

5.  Democrats Croft and Lincoln introduced HJR 3 and SJR 19 which proposed an election to give Alaskans the opportunity to constitutionally protect our PFD from legislative spending.  HJR 26 and SJR 18 were introduced by Republican controlled committees and represent Governor Murkowski’s “endowment plan” or POMV (percent of market value) scheme.  The Republican plan offers no assurance of future dividends, no guaranteed inflation proofing and could even erode Permanent Fund principal.  Please circle the legislation you prefer:

          HJR 3/ SJR 19:  73.4%          HJR 26/ SJR 18:  6.3%          Don’t Know/Not Sure:  20.3

6.  Republican Senator Ralph Seekins introduced Senate Bill 89 which increased the amount of time a person can spend trying to influence the legislature before being considered a lobbyist, from 4 hours to 40 hours in a 30 day period.  Now, those who are no longer considered lobbyists can contribute money to all the State Legislative candidates (previously restricted to those legislators from the district in which they reside) and are not required to make financial reports that were previously available to the public.  Who benefited most from this bill?

          The Public:  9.2%          Politicians/Lobbyists:  74.2%          Don’t Know/Not Sure:  16.6%

7.  In your opinion, who does the state legislature actually represent?

          The Public:  12.9%          Special Interest:  78.2%          Don’t Know/Not Sure:  8.9%

In our bonus question: "Can the Governor spend your PFD better than you"?  705 people responded, with only 5.2% saying YES.  3.7% were not sure, and a whopping 91.1% said NO!!!  Those seeking to represent the public need to remember these HUGE numbers!!!