A progressive firm's Alaska poll: two-thirds worry about the basics, and a simulated Senate race favors Peltola

Two-thirds of likely Alaska voters say they are worried about paying for health care, utilities and groceries over the next year, according to a survey from Data for Progress, a progressive polling firm, released the day before the state's primary.

Sixty-six percent reported worry about each of those three costs, and 67 percent about gasoline or transportation. Asked for their single top issue, 34 percent named the economy, jobs and cost of living, more than any other, and the firm said that concern has risen sharply over the past year. It surveyed 605 likely Alaska voters from July 28 to Aug. 4, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The same poll ran a hypothetical simulation of November's ranked-choice Senate race that favored Democrat Mary Peltola over Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, 53 percent to 47 after lower candidates were eliminated. That result is worth reading with its context. It comes from a firm aligned with the political left, on a day-before-the-primary timeline, and the field is hypothetical, since Tuesday's vote will decide who actually advances to November. The two candidates' favorability ran close to even in the same survey, so the simulated margin is wider than the underlying sentiment it rests on.

Both findings point the same direction that a progressive pollster's release would be expected to: voters anxious about costs, and the Democrat ahead in a modeled matchup. Neither campaign commented in the material released with the poll.