A recent Arizona poll had bad news for the state’s second-year governor.
On Tuesday, Emerson College Polling published its survey of swing states in the 2024 election. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, garnered 38% approval, compared with 42% disapproval from respondents (with 20% neutral).
New Emerson poll has Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs underwater in AZ
Hobbs’ results were some of the worst in the swing states among her fellow governors. Her approval rating was the lowest of the seven polled, and her disapproval numbers were one percentage point lower than the highest – which went to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, also a Democrat.
The swing states polled were Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The Arizona governor’s approval was two percentage points lower than President Joe Biden’s in her state. Biden obtained a 40% approval and a 51% disapproval.
Emerson College showed that former President Donald J. Trump held a four-percentage point lead in a head-to-head match-up in Arizona with current President Joseph R. Biden – 48% to 44% with eight percent of respondents undecided. When additional ballot options were added to the polling question, Trump maintained his four-point advantage in the Grand Canyon State – 44% to 40%.
Spencer Kimball, the executive director of Emerson College Polling, highlighted that “Independent voters break for Trump over Biden in Arizona (48%-38%).
The country is quickly heading toward the November 2024 election, with Arizona figuring to feature a prominent role in determining the individual who will assume the reins of the Executive Branch of the nation for the next four years. Most polls this year have shown that President Trump has built a lead over Biden in Arizona, though much time remains until the fall showdown.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
A new poll from Emerson College and The Hill found that former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in Arizona and six other key swing states.
The poll, released on Monday, reflected a consistency in swing state preferences since last November, according to the pollsters. Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a press release that the main differences concerned a diminishment in undecided voters and increase in support for Biden in Georgia and Nevada.
“The state of the presidential election in swing states has remained relatively consistent since Emerson and The Hill started tracking them last November,” said Kimball. “The share of undecided voters has reduced and Biden gained ground in Georgia and Nevada, narrowing the gap, while Trump has maintained a slight edge on Biden in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.”
Trump leads Biden by four percent in Arizona (eight percent undecided), three percent in Georgia (nine percent undecided), one percent in Michigan and Nevada (11 percent undecided), five percent in North Carolina (10 percent undecided), and two percent in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (eight percent undecided).
Last November, the pollsters found that Trump led Biden by two percent in Arizona among both registered and likely voters (16 percent and 11 percent undecided, respectively).
In this latest poll, Trump won over more independent voters than Biden in Arizona (48 percent compared to 38 percent), as well as Michigan (44 to 35 percent), Nevada (43 to 37 percent), Pennsylvania (49 to 33 percent), and North Carolina (41 to 38 percent). Georgia and Wisconsin independent voters favored Biden, at 42 to 38 percent and 44 to 41 percent, respectively.
Biden had a 51 percent disapproval rating, compared to 40 percent approval in Arizona. The other swing states had similar dismal disapproval ratings for the president: 52 percent disapproval in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin; 53 percent disapproval in North Carolina; and 51 percent disapproval in Pennsylvania.
Third party candidates reflected a bigger hurt than help for the incumbent president in most swing states, save for Arizona and Michigan, where Biden and Trump came up even for voter support.
The poll found that a plurality of voters in all swing states believed that the New York criminal trial against Trump was appropriate, and not a “witch hunt,” as the pollsters described.
13 percent of Arizona Republicans polled said they would be less likely to vote for Trump if he received a guilty verdict in the trial. Overall, a majority of Republican respondents said they would be more likely to support the former president should he be found guilty.
Independent voters said they would be 32 percent more likely to vote for Trump if he is found guilty, 43 percent said the ruling would have no impact, and 25 percent said they would be less likely to support him.
The poll also asked voters about their U.S. Senate candidates and sentiments of their governors.
In Arizona, 45 percent supported Democrat Ruben Gallego to replace outgoing Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema, compared with 43 percent in support of Kari Lake. Gallego had a marginal gain of one percent compared to Lake’s three compared to the pollsters’ previous data from March.
Governor Katie Hobbs received a 42 percent disapproval rating, with 38 percent approving and 20 percent neutral. Hobbs was the only swing state governor on the poll that had a majority disapproval rating.
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PHOENIX – On Wednesday, the Arizona State Senate passed HB 2569, legislation targeting the Big Tech companies that targeted swing states during the 2020 election cycle. The bill sponsored by Rep. Jake Hoffman prohibits government entities from receiving private monies to conduct elections.
The vote fell along party lines, with Republicans supporting the bill and all Democrats voting against it.
“Nearly half a billion dollars in private funding was spent by out of state Democrat billionaires to influence the administration of county and state elections operations nationally, including millions here in Arizona,” said Hoffman referring to entities like the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL), which spent in the neighborhood of $1.4 million to influence the election in 2018 and over $350 million in 2020.
Critics note that CTCL received millions from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife to change the way local elections offices conducted the election. According to the Capital Research Center, CTCL spent $5 million in Arizona, $3 million of which went to Maricopa County, which election integrity supporters say essentially decided the state’s election.
“The Arizona legislature doesn’t want billionaires from any Party, or of any kind, attempting to influence our election system,” said Hoffman.
Hoffman argues that his bill is “common sense legislation that will ensure Arizona’s elections are free from outside influence and that our voters can have confidence in the integrity of the process. The passage of this bill is a win for Arizona and a win for America, as I fully expect other states to follow suit in prohibiting this deeply troubling new Democrat tactic.”
“Even the appearance of impropriety in elections is dangerous,” said Arizona Free Enterprise Club President Scot Mussi. “Elections should be funded, directed, and guided by state governments, not private organizations and especially not Big Tech. The Club commends the Senate for passing HB2569 and urges Governor Ducey to sign this important bill to protect the integrity of our elections.”
“Arizonans have the right to know their elections are being run without outside influence, and Gov. Ducey should promptly sign the bill into law,” said Jessica Anderson, Executive Director of Heritage Action.
The House of Representatives previously approved HB 2569 on March 3. It will now be sent to Governor Ducey for his signature.
The near-universal effect of CTCL’s grants was disproportionately greater turnout for one political party. Here’s how it broke down in Arizona, comparing the votes for president in 2020 versus 2016. All 15 counties increased their votes for both parties, but not at all equally. And both parties saw their votes increase even more in the nine counties CTCL funded than the six counties it did not. Here especially the results were unequal.
For the Republicans, the funded counties’ votes increased by 46% more than the rate at which unfunded counties increased. For Democrats, funded counties’ votes skyrocketed upwards 81% more quickly than they rose in unfunded counties.
In the opening lines of a behemoth post-election analysis, Time Magazine tipped their hats to the “business titans” for their help in securing the election for President Joe Biden.
Amongst those titans are the ones controlling a majority of modern social interactions, transactions, and entertainment – Big Tech.
