Latest Arizona Polling Has Kyrsten Sinema Sending Out Resumes

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It is not uncommon for a lawmaker in Congress to challenge their own party on a piece of legislation that the voters in their home state might oppose. It’s not only a strategy geared toward remaining in office after the next election, it’s a truly representative thing to do when the voters who elected someone to the highest levels of government would be harmed in some way by that legislation.

Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), on the other hand, has challenged her party on a piece of legislation that her voters largely support. Democrats in Arizona are, in the majority, supportive of policies like subsidized childcare, expanded medical coverage, and continuing the expanded child tax credit. In a move sure to turn voters against her as a candidate in 2024, Sinema has ignored those voters and opposed Biden’s Build Back Better plan, a plan that provides for all of those popular policies.

According to a summary of the Arizona Public Opinion Pulse conducted by Predictive Insights poll by The Hill:

‘A new Arizona Public Opinion Pulse conducted by Phoenix-based OH Predictive Insights found that nearly three-quarters of Arizona Democratic voters — 72 percent — want a Democrat other than Sinema as their U.S. senator. Only 26 percent say they would prefer Sinema.

‘That finding bears out when Sinema’s strength is tested against a handful of potential primary rivals.’

Voters know at this point that Sinema has taken multiple meetings with representatives from Big Pharma, who opposes provisions of the Build Back Better plan because it allows for competitive drug pricing. However, donations don’t make much of a difference for reelection without the votes, and women in Arizona, a population most likely to vote Democrat, expect those measures Sinema is blocking to be passed.

According to The 19th, an independent non-profit organization reporting on gender politics and policy, and who spoke with women across the Phoenix area:

‘The reality for Arizona parents is that child care costs spiked 84 percent during the pandemic, according to a LendingTree analysis, the seventh-largest state-wide increase in the country. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that the average Arizona family would have to spend more than a third of its income on child care for an infant and a 4-year-old. The parents of more than 1.3 million Arizona children — about 93 percent — are receiving expanded child tax credits from the coronavirus relief package that will end at the end of this year without congressional action.’

It can only be the donations driving Sinema at this point, particularly because of the extent of the support for these policies. Each of the provisions of the

According to a poll conducted in August by Data for Progress:

‘We then tested support for the individual provisions of the Build Back Better plan. We find majority support for all provisions. Expanding Medicare coverage to include vision, hearing, and dental along with investments in long-term care for seniors and people with disabilities are both supported by margins of more than +70 points. Investments in child care, clean energy, extending tax cuts for families with children, providing workers with 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave, and universal pre-K are all supported by margins of at least +40 points. By a margin of +36 points, voters support extending subsidies for people who purchase insurance through Affordable Care Act exchanges.’