Arizona Senator John McCain has been in office since January 3, 1987 and is considered part of the problem and is no longer viewed by
Arizonans as the solution.
PPP’s new Arizona poll finds that
John McCain has a negative approval rating with Republican primary voters, and
is at pretty serious risk of losing nomination for another term. Only 35% of
GOP voters approve of the job McCain is doing to 50% who disapprove. […]
McCain is polling at only 39% in
the Republican primary field. He’s benefiting from having multiple opponents.
Kelli Ward is at 26%, Alex Meluskey at 4%, Scott McBean at 3%, and Clair Van
Steenwyk at 2%. 27% are undecided…. When you narrow the field down to just a
choice between McCain and Ward, it’s a tie at 41%. Ward is polling this
competitively at this point despite having only 41% name recognition.
It’s only one
poll, and we’d need more data before drawing firm conclusions, but if PPP is
correct, these are the kind of numbers that suggest McCain’s career is in real
jeopardy.
Complicating
matters, in a hypothetical general-election match-up against Rep. Ann
Kirkpatrick (D), the same poll showed McCain ahead, but not by much: 42% to
36%. This may help explain why Team McCain launched its
first anti-Kirkpatrick attack ad of the year yesterday.
When making
lists of vulnerable Senate incumbents in 2016, most tend to leave McCain out of
the mix, largely because of his lengthy track record of electoral success. But
taken at face value, the Republican senator is clearly facing real headwinds,
and there’s no reason to assume McCain will prevail just because he has in the
past.
