The times, they are a-changin' in Alaska. It was not long ago that the state boasted two of the most powerful members of Congress: Representative Don Young, once chairman of the House Appropriations Committee; and Senator Ted Stevens, once chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Now both are in the minority, both are under scrutiny from federal investigators and both are becoming less and less popular. Check out the latest survey from Hays Research, to which I have added previous surveys from August, June and April to grab a trendline. All polls have margins of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent and include Alaska adults.

Don Young

	9/17	6/15	4/5
Very Positive	11	18	20
Somewhat Positive	22	22	31
Neutral	18	15	7
Somewhat Negative	20	18	16
Very Negative	26	23	22
DK/Refused	2	3	3

Ted Stevens

	9/17	8/1	6/15
Very Positive	17	22	26
Somewhat Positive	23	22	20
Neutral	18	15	15
Somewhat Negative	21	21	23
Very Negative	17	19*	13
DK/Refused	3	1	2

Over the last five months, Young has seen his favorability spread fall from 51 positive/38 percent negative in April to 33 percent positive/46 percent negative in September. Both the new spread and the trend bode extremely poorly for Young. Stevens' fall has been slightly less pronounced, going from 46 percent positive/36 percent negative in June to 40 percent positive/38 percent negative in September, though that could be, at least in part, due to the fact that the trend line started a bit later (i.e. his numbers back in April may have been worse, but Hays didn't poll him at that time). Going back a bit to SurveyUSA's last poll of the state back in last November, Stevens' approval rating was 62 percent, with 34 percent disapproving (though I should note that approval rating is not favorability rating, and that, what's more, SurveyUSA is a different pollster than Hays and uses both a different methodology and a different interview style).

Looking at these numbers, it's hard not to come away with the impression that both Young and Stevens are very weak, even considering they have represented the state in Congress for nearly a combined three quarters of a century. Let's just hope the Democrats can find the right candidates to capitalize on this situation...