Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) has become a magnet for political criticism—and a new survey of her favorability in Arizona shows just how much her own state is turning on her.
A survey of 1,469 likely voters in Arizona, conducted by the liberal polling shop Data For Progress and shared exclusively with The Daily Beast, found 31 percent of respondents with a “very unfavorable” opinion of Sinema, while 21 percent had a “somewhat unfavorable” opinion of the senator. The survey was conducted from Jan. 21 to Jan. 24—just days after Sinema voted against changing Senate rules to allow for the passage of voting rights bills by a simple majority.
Sinema’s favorability ratings were even worse among Democratic respondents, of which 53 percent felt very unfavorably and 24 percent felt somewhat unfavorably about her.
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Those totals track with a growing trend of political ire against Sinema, who’s also been a longstanding holdout on President Joe Biden’s signature social spending proposal, the Build Back Better Act, and her support for keeping the filibuster intact. An October Morning Consult survey found just a 42 percent approval rating for Sinema among Arizona voters, down from 48 percent earlier in 2021. In November, an Arizona Public Opinion Pulse survey conducted by OH Predictive Insights similarly found a 42 percent favorability rating for Sinema among Arizona voters.
But the new survey did find some decent pockets of support for Sinema among Republicans.
A notable 46 percent of Republican respondents said they had a somewhat favorable opinion of Sinema and 17 percent said they had a very favorable opinion. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans said they believe “Sinema works more for people like me,” compared to just 12 percent of Democrats.
Only 25 percent of Republicans said they believe “Sinema works more for special interests,” versus 81 percent of Democrats.
Sinema’s still a long way away from facing voters’ opinions at the polls, with her current term slated to end in 2024. But primary rumors have already been swirling, with one candidate increasingly coming into focus: Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). The four-term congressman told CNN this month he’s “gotten a lot of encouragement” to run against Sinema in 2024, including from other U.S. senators.
In a smaller survey targeting 673 likely Democratic primary voters in Arizona, Data for Progress found 74 percent of respondents would vote for Gallego in a potential 2024 primary matchup versus just 16 percent for Sinema. Ten percent of respondents said they were unsure.
In a potential matchup against Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, another Democrat whose name has been floated as a 2024 Sinema challenger, 66 percent of respondents said they’d support Romero, as opposed to 17 percent who said they’d support Sinema and 17 percent who said they were unsure.
