It doesn’t appear as though there are many Arizona Democrats left who support Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.). After a recent survey garnered attention over its finding that just eight percent of Arizona Democratic respondents had a favorable view of Sinema, there’s another poll out with similar results. In a new Data for Progress survey asking likely Arizona Democratic primary voters whether they approved of the job that Sinema is doing in office, just 19 percent replied in the affirmative, while 76 percent of likely Arizona Democratic primary voters indicated that they did not approve of Sinema’s performance.
We need to make our Senate majority stronger by re-electing Mark Kelly and replacing Sinema with a real Democrat.
— Primary Sinema Project (@PrimarySinemaAZ) January 24, 2022
Technically, favorability and approval ratings are distinct measurements. Whether an individual voter views certain politicians favorably and whether that voter approves of politicians’ job performances aren’t quite the same issue. In Sinema’s case, she has garnered steep opposition after she recently joined one other Senate Democrat and every Senate Republican in voting down a proposed Senate rules change that would’ve allowed for the passage of new protections for voting rights with a simple majority in favor. Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), that other Democratic opponent of the rules change, have pushed for bipartisanship — but how are Democrats supposed to find common ground with a party whose members largely appear fine with restricting access to the electoral process in states around the country?
Arizona poll (Data For Progress)
Approval ratings among likely Democratic primary voters
Mark Kelly 83%
Joe Biden 80%
Kyrsten Sinema 19% pic.twitter.com/7seKgapFLw— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) January 26, 2022
The Data for Progress survey was entirely conducted after Sinema cast her vote in the Senate in favor of those disputed, outdated procedural rules, helping shut down the push to enact new voting rights protections, for now. The poll also asked respondents about who they’d support in a hypothetical match-up in the next Democratic primary race for Sinema’s seat, and against potential challenger Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), it wasn’t close… at all. Gallego got 74 percent of the support, while Sinema got just 16 percent, with 10 percent of respondents indicating that they weren’t sure. Gallego has pointedly declined to rule out running; there’s simply a fair amount of time until Sinema is actually up for re-election, since that’s not until 2024. In the meantime, Voto Latino — an advocacy organization active in Latino communities — recently announced plans for a six-figure ad campaign targeting Sinema in conjunction to the 2024 primary, so… yeah. She doesn’t seem to have a good chance of re-election, although things could certainly change.
Kyrsten Sinema is very vulnerable. pic.twitter.com/qKAymOXgZw
— Primary Sinema Project (@PrimarySinemaAZ) January 26, 2022
Featured Image (edited) via Gage Skidmore on Flickr and available under a Creative Commons License
