On behalf of NELP Action, a group focusing on raising the minimum wage, Public Policy Polling is out with a poll of the general election in Arizona. While Donald Trump leads 46-43, Sen. John McCain and Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick are deadlocked 43-43.
This is only the second Arizona Senate poll we’ve seen since June, and it’s much better for Team Blue than a recent CNN/ORC survey that gave John McCain a 52-39 lead. The bad news for Democrats is that the poll shows that, while only 3 percent of Clinton voters are undecided about their Senate choice, 21 percent of Trump voters are. McCain only took 52 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s primary against a weak field of opponents, so it’s very clear that a significant number of Arizona Republicans hate him.
However, if most of them end up backing McCain in November, even if only reluctantly, he’ll gain some ground. It appears that only McCain and Kirkpatrick will be on the general election ballot, so McCain-hating conservatives don’t have a third party candidate to cast a protest vote for, though of course they could choose to skip this race. (It seems unlikely that there are many far-right voters who will go so far as voting for a Democrat to stick it to John McCain.) The good news for Kirkpatrick is that Hillary Clinton has started advertising in the state. Even if Clinton falls short, the better she does, the fewer crossover voters Kirkpatrick will need.
Let's give John McCain some more bad news. Please chip in $3 for Ann Kirkpatrick today.