From David Hulen in Anchorage --

A poll released this week by Dittman Research suggests Alaskans have had it with Joe Miller, aren't crazy about Sarah Palin and are pretty happy with the congressional delegation, especially Lisa Murkowski.

The poll, of 400 Alaskans, was done March 3-17 and released by Dittman this week. According to Dittman's summary:

> Miller, who defeated Murkowski in the Republican primary last summer then eventually lost in the general election when she ran as a write-in, has very high negatives. Only 6 percent said they had a "very favorable" opinion of Miller and just 12 percent said "somewhat favorable" (for a total positive rating of 18 percent). His negatives: 73 percent (20 percent had a "somewhat unfavorable" opinion and 53 percent said "very unfavorable.") Nine percent were unsure.

> Palin's total positives were 36 percent (13 percent very favorable, 23 percent somewhat favorable) and negatives of 61 percent (22 pecrent somewhat unfavorable, 39 percent very unfavorable). Like Miller, the biggest group was the "very unfavorable." Only 3 percent were unsure.

Dittman's results echo polling late last year by Public Policy Polling, which also found high negatives for Palin among fellow Alaskans.

> With the congressional delegation, Murkowski had the highest ratings, with 71 percent saying she was doing a good or excellent job, and 27 percent saying she was doing a not-very-good or poor job.

Rep. Don Young: 63 percent excellent/good, and 32 percent not-very-good/poor.

Sen. Mark Begich, 57 percent excellent/good, 33 percent not-very-good/poor and 10 percent unsure (the highest of any of the figures in the survey).

Read Dittman's full summary here.

Dave Dittman has worked for many candidates and officials through the years, and is generally associated with Republicans. I asked who the firm worked for in last year's elections. "We’ve worked with everyone on the list at some point in the past. Last year we did one survey for Joe Miller," he said in an email. As for the gap between when the survey was taken (early March) and its release this week, he wrote: "With all of the airwaves and print clogged with ads and stories pertaining to the muni election we thought it better to wait until after the muni election was over."

Dittman says his margin of error is 4.9 percent. The 400-person sample size is similar to other statewide Dittman polls; it's a smaller sample than some others use who poll in Alaska.