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Last October, the DFP newsletter famously ushered in the flop era of Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. DFP found the Arizona Senator, who had stalled passage of the Build Back Better Act for months, was in real trouble with Arizona voters over her tactics.
You would think that an elected official who found out she was underwater with literally every demographic we polled would reassess the way she did her job. But thanks to Sinema, the Build Back Better Act is still on the cutting room floor of the Senate, and just last week, she killed critical and wildly popular voting rights legislation in order to preserve the Senate filibuster.
The result? New polling showing that Sinema has somehow cratered even further with Arizona Democratic primary voters, who are really getting sick of the fact that she’s actively working against them. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Here’s what we found. While around 80 percent of likely Democratic primary voters hold favorable views of President Joe Biden and fellow Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Sinema is sitting at a cool -57 points net favorability. This is a 12-point drop from October, and once again, she’s underwater across every demographic.
This is good news for Arizonans – and it’s great news for Arizonans named Ruben Gallego. Gallego, an Iraq War veteran and progressive Congressman, has been courted for months to primary Sinema. This week, it appears he’s making moves to actually do it – and Data for Progress finds that, since October, he’s further consolidated support among Arizona primary voters. In October’s polled head-to-head matchup, Gallego defeated her by a +39-point margin. He’s since increased his support share by +12 points, while Sinema has lost 7 points.
Read the full analysis here.
Here are some other DFP highlights from over the past week:
Mark Kelly Leads in Arizona Senate Race
Mark Kelly, Arizona’s other Democratic senator, provides a stark contrast to Kyrsten Sinema in that he’s relatively popular, will likely cruise unchallenged through his primary, and is in better shape with Arizona voters. Kelly, who carries the highest net favorability among Arizona’s statewide elected officials, is running for his first full Senate term against a clown car of Republicans jockeying for the nomination. All — but especially Gov. Doug Ducey — have low support amongst voters. In a polled head-to-head matchup, Kelly leads Ducey by three points and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich by two.
 
Read the full polling analysis here.
Voters Want Biden to Cancel Student Loans (But Will Settle For Extending the Pause on Payments)
In October, Data for Progress released a memo showing that the vast majority of likely voters support a range of policies to cancel student loan debt. Cancelling up to $10,000 of student loan debt per person was a key part of the Biden campaign platform – but that hasn’t yet happened. There’s no question that cancelling the debt outright would boost Democrats’ electoral chances in the dreaded 2022 midterms. But the Biden administration still has a popular policy to lean back on in the meantime: further extending the moratorium on student loan debt. The White House’s initial decision to extend the student loan moratorium through May 2022 was popular with voters. New Data for Progress polling shows that, by a +26-point margin, voters would support that moratorium being extended through the rest of the year.
Read the full analysis here.
Once Again, Voters Want Congress to Like, Literally Do Anything About Climate Change
Axios opened the new year by reminding us that the world is pretty much collapsing around us. Extreme weather events, which dominated much of 2021, are set to get somehow worse in 2022 – so it’s no surprise that voters want the federal government to take necessary precautions. Data for Progress partnered with Evergreen Action on new polling, which finds that a clear majority of voters believe the federal government is responsible for climate change mitigation. Voters understand that climate change poses a serious risk to our economy, and thus, a majority of voters across party lines want the government to take relevant action.
Read the full analysis here.
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