Murkowski’s standing with Alaskans slips after her vote on reconciliation bill
- Yereth Rosen
- Aug 5, 2025
- 4 min read
Support plunged among progressives and moderates who had previously given her positive ratings, new polling shows
Alaska’s senior U.S. senator has acknowledged that she disappointed key supporters when she cast a decisive vote a month ago in favor of the budget reconciliation measure known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
In an Anchorage news conference on Monday, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she had not been thinking about political popularity back home when she sided with fellow Republicans and helped pass the highly controversial bill championed by President Donald Trump.
“When I vote on matters that are in front of me, whether it’s the reconciliation bill, the rescissions package, nominations, what I’m trying to do is not win elections. I am just trying to do the best that I can for Alaskans,” she said.
Despite her opposition to the bill’s cuts to the Medicaid program, Murkowski said she secured some wins for Alaska in the process, such as including increased funding for the U.S. Coast Guard and assistance for rural hospitals. It was a tough decision, she said.
“So I did everything within my power as one lawmaker from Alaska to ensure that the most vulnerable in our state would not be negatively impacted,” she said. “I had a hard choice to make, and I think I made the right choice for Alaskans.”
But many Alaska voters who have been her loyal supporters disagree, a new poll shows.
Murkowski – who holds the usual status as a national Republican who is much more supported by moderates and progressives than by members of her own party – suffered a big decline in popularity after she cast that vote, said Anchorage-based pollster Ivan Moore.
A survey conducted by his company, Alaska Survey Research, found that her status among self-described progressives in Alaska shifted from a net positive rating of 54 percentage points in January to a net negative of 21 percentage points at the end of July.
Moore said in an interview he had expected her popularity to slide after the vote but that he was stunned by the magnitude of the reversal.
“I had no idea that it was as significant as the numbers suggested,” he said. “I looked at this and my jaw just kind of hit the floor.”
Murkowski lost support of self-described moderates as well, slipping from a 57-29 positive-to-negative rating in January to a 49-47 positive-to-negative rating in July, polling results showed. And she gained no ground among conservatives; among that group, about eight in 10 respondents rated Murkowski negatively in July as well as in January.
Among all Alaskans surveyed, Murkowski’s 47-44 positive-to-negative rating in January had sagged by July to a 33% positive and 60% negative rating, according to the poll.
The senator’s position as a moderate, sometimes backing Trump and conservative causes and sometimes lining up with progressives, has been a difficult balancing act, Moore said.
“She’s straddling the fence, which has probably been very painful,” Moore said.
He said he believes she will not run again. For any candidate, “a 60 percent negative is a total nonstarter,” he said.
Asked about her own plans for reelection in 2028 at the end of her current term, Murkowski was noncommittal.
“2028 is still more than even just a couple years away. I am running every day to make sure that Alaskans needs are taken care of, and some days are harder than others,” she said at the news conference.
When asked about a possible run for governor, she teased a possible run for that office. However, she added that she was being “a little bit flippant” in her response to what she said was a frequent question posed to her.
“Would I love to come home?” she asked. “Of course, I would love to come home.”
For now, though, her responsibility is in the Senate, she said. “I am not ready to announce anything for anything, other than my plans for August.”
The comment somewhat echoed the title of her recently published memoir, “Far from Home: An Alaskan Senator Faces the Extreme Climate of Washington, D.C.”
There are already seven declared candidates for the 2026 gubernatorial race, all Republicans. Some other high-profile figures are potential candidates, including former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat. Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, is term-limited and cannot run for reelection.
• Yereth Rosen came to Alaska in 1987 to work for the Anchorage Times. She has been reporting on Alaska news ever since, covering stories ranging from oil spills to sled-dog races. She has reported for Reuters, for the Alaska Dispatch News, for Arctic Today and for other organizations. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
