After several rough weeks on the campaign trail, a new poll out of Alaska shows Republican Joe Miller has fallen to last place in the three-way Senate race.
A Hays Research Group poll released Thursday showed write-in candidates, presumably meaning Sen. Lisa Murkowski, in the lead with 34 percent, Democrat Scott McAdams with 29 percent and Miller with 23 percent. Murkowski is waging a write-in bid since losing the Republican primary to Miller.
Miller's plunge in the new poll comes on the heels of several misfires in the local and national press. Most recently, Miller's employment records from his job as a part-time attorney with local government were unsealed Tuesday, in which he admitted to using company computers for political purposes and then lying about it.
Miller had a high 68 percent unfavorable rating in the independent poll, which was taken Oct. 25-26. The poll appeared to ask the opinion of 500 respondents — not registered or likely voters, like most political polls. The poll appeared first on the local liberal blog The Mudflats.
But poll numbers aren't the only indicator that Miller could be in trouble. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has started running advertisements in Alaska, purchasing almost $564,000 in independent expenditures on Miller's behalf. The most recent advertisement paid for by the NRSC was a negative spot hitting McAdams that debuted earlier this week — a sign that the committee likely sees the Democrat, and not just Murkowski, as competition.
Until the Hays Research Poll was released, almost every public poll of the race since the Aug. 24 primary had shown Miller in the lead, with either Murkowski tied with or trialing him, and McAdams several points behind both candidates.
