AZ Sours on McCain & Kyl

Although Kylwas re-elected in ’06 and McCain isn’t up for re-election until 2010, I take comfort in knowing that both are losing steam in Arizona.  A new
Rocky Mt Poll (pdf), measuring AZ voters’ opinions, finds McCain sinking to 42% approval, down 7% since March, and Kyl at 40% approval, down 6% over the same time period.  McCain’s disapproval rating grew from 18% to 30% and Kyl’s disapproval grew from 12% to 18%.

Better yet is their declining support among Arizona Independents.  McCain had favorable ratings from 23% of Independents, and unfavorable ratings from 41% of Independents. Kyl fared slightly better with a 31% favorable Independent rating and a 16% negative rating.

McCain and Kyl have chosen high profile positions on the War in Iraq and Immigration Reform.  Both are hawks, of course.  McCain is one of the few gung-ho cheerleaders still supporting the war. Kyl adamantly pushed a phony Immigration bill that didn’t really address the intricacies necessary to deal with this important issue.  Arizona is ground zero for border crossers, and many AZ Republicans were and are opposed to many of the policies in the bill.

Howard Fineman recently wrote an article in the July 2nd edition of
Newsweek(archive, subscription required) that predicted the Southwest would determine the next presidential election.  Perhaps this is a foreboding.

You can read subjective analysis here in the East Valley Tribune.