New Arizona poll shows Democrats leading in several key races

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — With three weeks until Election Day, a stunning new HighGround poll reveals Arizona Democrats leading Republicans in every major statewide race despite the GOP outnumbering Democrats by 300,000 registered voters statewide.

In the governor’s race, Gov. Katie Hobbs leads Republican Andy Biggs by 17 points. Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is up 12 points over Alexander Kolodin, and Attorney General Kris Mayes leads Warren Petersen by 15 points.

Democrats are also leading in the high single digits in the races for treasurer and superintendent.

Voters interviewed Tuesday pointed to President Donald Trump as the driving force.

“Even though I’m a registered Republican and always have been, I’m voting for the current governor, the incumbent,” Stan Taylor said over coffee with friend Kim Roberts, who also plans to vote for the incumbent.

“I do not like their leadership at all, and it’s frightening,” another voter said of Trump and the Republican Party.

HighGround President Chuck Coughlin, whose firm has repeatedly been named Arizona’s top pollster, said he stands by the findings. He said 25-30% of Republican voters are not supporting their party’s candidates.

“In order to win a statewide election, you need 90 to 95% of your party to be supporting you, and that didn’t show up. That shocked us,” Coughlin said. “If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that you would have had the governor up 17 points with less than a month to go, I would have said that’s crazy.

Biggs’ campaign questioned the poll — not just the numbers, but the motivation. A spokesperson noted Coughlin’s company works for a firm bankrolling pro-Hobbs attack ads.

“We did this with our money. We didn’t ask anybody for any resources to do this. We have a long history at HighGround of being interested in politics,” Coughlin responded.

For some Phoenix voters, the message to Biggs and the GOP ticket was blunt: “After this election, I believe the circus is leaving town, and the head clown will be gone,” Taylor said.

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