GOP's Joe Miller Faces Competitive Senate Race in Alaska

Republican Joe Miller, who just eked out a victory over Sen. Lisa Murkowski in Alaska's GOP Senate primary, faces a competitive race against Democrat Scott McAdams, mayor of the small town of Sitka (pop. 8,889), according to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Aug. 31. The survey was taken shortly after Murkowski conceded Tuesday night.

Miller starts out with a 50 percent to 44 percent lead over McAdams, with 4 percent preferring some other candidate and 2 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4.5 points.

The closeness of the result and perhaps also the fact that 48 percent of voters regard the views of Miller, a Tea Party favorite, as "extreme," prompted Rasmussen to move its rating of the race from "solid Republican" to "leans Republican." Forty-two percent consider Miller's views mainstream while 10 percent are not sure.

Forty-seven percent regard McAdams' views as mainstream, 32 percent rate them as extreme and 32 percent are not sure.

Miller is seen as very or somewhat conservative by 86 percent (with 65 percent in the "very" conservative category) While 33 percent see McAdams as somewhat or very liberal, (with 12 percent regarding him as "very" liberal). Thirty-two percent consider McAdams a moderate compared to only 4 percent who see Miller that way.

McAdams gets much more solid support from Democrats (90 percent) than Miller does from Republicans (79 percent). Miller leads among unaffiliated voters by 56 percent to 34 percent with the rest undecided or preferring another choice. Rasmussen does not give its sample sizes for party affiliation.

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