Anger toward politics and politicians among Arizona voters appears focused not only on Washington D.C. or the Congress, but also what is going on in Arizona. More specifically, Arizonans are not impressed with either the direction the state is taking or the performance to date of first term Governor Doug Ducey.
In a statewide survey conducted in April, only 23 percent believe Governor Ducey is doing an “Excellent” or “Good” job. A near equal amount (21 percent) say his performance to date can be best characterized as either “Poor” or “Very Poor.”
Simultaneously, a plurality of 41 percent believe the state is “seriously off track” compared to only 37 percent willing to say Arizona is headed in the “right direction.”
As might be expected, evaluations of the Republican Governor reveal some partisan overtones, but Republican voters are reserved in their assessment as well. Thus only 31 percent of registered Republicans rate his performance in clearly favorable terms. This compares to only 20 percent of Independents and 17 percent of Democrats willing to rate him in that way. Only ten percent of Republicans think he is doing a poor job, but among registered Independents that figure rises to 24 percent and already registers at 40 percent among Democrat voters.
Public views regarding whether Arizona is headed in the right direction or is seriously off track also reveal stronger partisan overtones, in which 63 percent of Democrats answer “seriously off track” as do 41 percent of Republicans. Women and older residents are also among the most likely to regard Arizona as being seriously off track.
According to pollsters, curiously, the survey also finds that among both the lowest and the highest income earners that sentiment is strongest that the state is seriously off track.