A survey released Wednesday by left-leaning pollster Ivan Moore suggests that no mayoral candidate will come close to getting 45 percent of the vote on April 7, adding some credence to the idea of a long-expected runoff election.
According to the poll, former Anchorage Assembly Chair Dan Coffey is perceived positively by 25.8 percent of residents and negatively by 33.5 percent; Assembly Member Amy Demboski gets 21.3 percent positives and 31.5 percent negatives.
This probable runoff scenario demonstrates the viability of the “top two” primary system. In a “top two” election system all candidates enter the primary. The two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the general election. If the political parties don’t want to participate they can, at their expense, chose a candidate for the general election. This allows the most favored candidates to run against each other. This concept has been introduced in the Alaska Legislature as HB17; however, it is being denied a hearing which is the preferred method in Juneau to avoid any of those unpleasant debates in an open forum which might threaten the standing caucus system.
Via ak-pipeline.com
image credit KTUU
