New Rasmussen poll: Parnell still the favorite

A new Rasmussen Reports poll on the Alaska governor's race puts Sean Parnell in the lead, but by less of a margin than other polls over the last few days.

Rasmussen, regarded as a GOP pollster, gives the current Republican governor a 10 percent lead over Democrat Ethan Berkowitz, 53-43. Rasmussen notes that in early July, Parnell led Berkowitz 53 percent to 34 percent, with the gap even wider when the pollster looked at the race in May.

Rasmussen calls Parnell's advantage now "a modest lead." Still, it remains "Solid GOP" in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Gubernatorial Scorecard.

The survey of 500 likely voters was conducted Aug. 31.
The Rasmussen survey follows one by the Republican Governors Association that put Parnell up by 14 points, and another by Public Policy Polling that put him up by 18percent.

In other numbers from the Rasmussen report, 72 percent of voters see Parnell as a conservative while 54 percent consider Berkowitz a liberal. Sixty percent see Parnell's views as mainstream while 28 percent say his views are extreme. For Berkowitz, 45 percent rate him as mainstream and 35 percent as extreme.