Alaskan Republicans Are Fed Up With Pork
Club Poll Shows Alaska Republican Primary Voters Fed Up with Pork
Washington – By an overwhelming margin, Alaska Republican primary voters want their elected officials to go on a sorely-needed diet, according to a poll released today by the Club for Growth PAC.
Alaska’s senior senator, Ted Stevens, and its only representative, Don Young, are two of Congress’ most notorious porkers, often threatening other lawmakers while they waste taxpayer dollars. Just yesterday, Representative Young declared, “Those who bite me will be bitten back” when Representative Scott Garrett (R-NJ) attempted to strip an $11.8 million giveaway to the “Strengthening Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions” from the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. According to the poll, Alaska Republican primary voters clearly agree with Scott Garrett more they do with their own representative.
In a survey of 300 likely Republican primary voters in Alaska, a stunning supermajority disapproved of the notorious “Bridge to Nowhere” pork project and wanted their elected officials to cut government spending even if it means less pork projects for Alaska. Perhaps these numbers explain why a plurality of surveyed voters thinks it’s time for a change in their Senate representation. The following poll was conducted by Basswood Research July 14-15 and has a margin of error of +/-5.66% .
Do you approve or disapprove of spending $223 million in federal tax money to build a bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island, which is sometimes referred to as the “Bridge to Nowhere”?
Approve -- 24.7%
Disapprove -- 66%
DK/Refused -- 9.3%All things being equal, for whom would you be more likely to vote for Congress? A candidate who wants to cut overall federal spending, even if that includes cutting some money that would come to Alaska or a candidate who is willing to increase overall spending on federal programs, as long as more federal spending and projects come to Alaska?
Cut spending -- 71%
Bring projects -- 17.3%
DK/Refused -- 11.7%Would you say each of the following statements is true or untrue? “Ted Stevens has done some good things for Alaska, but after forty years in Washington, it’s time for a change.”
True -- 47%
Untrue -- 44.7%
DK/Refused -- 8.3%“Like the rest of the country, Alaska taxpayers are fed up with runaway spending, wasteful projects, and the corruption that they can breed,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Defending his pork career in 2001, Ted Stevens told National Public Radio, ‘I am guilty of asking the Senate for pork and proud of the Senate for giving it to me.’ Clearly, the sentiment isn’t shared by Republican primary voters back home.”
PAID FOR BY CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC AND NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE. 202-955-5500.
