One of the many, many, many reasons I love the Daily Kos Election team is in the thread comments, I can find polling info to share with you. One of them was an internal poll from the Democratic Polling firm, GBA Strategies, and they have some awful news for U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R. AZ). First, the GOP primary:
Key Findings – Republican Primary
• Flake is deeply unpopular with Republican primary voters. Republican primary voters offer Flake an abysmal 25 percent favorable – 56 percent unfavorable rating. And 59 percent disapprove of the job he’s doing, while just 34 percent approve.
• Ward trounces Flake in vote matchup. Kelli Ward leads Flake 58 – 31 percent in ahead-to-head matchup, an outstandingly large deficit for an incumbent. Flake trails by 20+ points with registered Republicans and Unaffiliated voters, men and women, and in every region of the state.
• Mitch McConnell is wildly unpopular and his Super PAC is not helping Flake. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has an astoundingly low favorability rating with Republican primary voters in Arizona, 17 percent favorable – 42 percent unfavorable. McConnell’s Super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, launched a digital attack ad campaign against Ward, but it is not working because, as noted above, Ward leadsFlake by 27 points.
Now the General Election:
Key Findings – General Election
• General election voters disapprove of Flake across the political spectrum. Flake’s troubles with the Republican base are compounded by problems with general election voters. Flake suffers from negative personal ratings, 23 percent favorable – 48 percent unfavorable, and negative job approval ratings, 38 percent approve – 50 percent disapprove. Independents give Flake a 20 percent favorable – 50 percent unfavorable rating, almost as bad as Democrats (17 percent favorable – 51 percent unfavorable).
• Flake is losing the general election. Against Kyrsten Sinema, Flake trails 47 – 40percent and is trailing by 13 points among Independent voters.
• McConnell unpopular across the board. Senate Majority Leader McConnell has a 12percent favorable – 46 percent unfavorable rating with likely general election voters.
Click here for the full results.
Democrats smell blood in the water and they are some of the top Democrats are trying to get Sinema in this race:
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) phoned Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) during the August recess and told her he would back her over other primary candidates should she decide to run against vulnerable Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), multiple sources told The Hill.
Schumer also placed a phone call with Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, another Democrat who had been eyeing a Senate bid, and told him he was going with Sinema, the sources said.
The phone calls are the clearest sign yet that Sinema, 41, a centrist Democrat serving her third term in the House, is gearing up for a Senate run in the Grand Canyon State.
An announcement is expected any day.
It’s not even certain that Sinema would face her former House colleague, Flake, in a general-election match-up. He’s deeply unpopular in Arizona and has been locked in a months-long feud with President Trump, whose allies are working to unseat Flake for his disloyalty.
A HighGround poll in Arizona found that one Trump-inspired GOP primary challenger, former state Sen. Kelli Ward, is leading Flake 43 percent to 28 percent. That same poll showed Sinema beating Flake in a potential match-up 41 percent to 33 percent.
Stay tuned.