A plurality of likely Arizona voters thinks Sen. John McCain has not done a good job of representing Republican values, but a majority still approves of his job performance, according to a new poll from Rasmussen Reports.
In the poll, conducted Sept. 24, 46 percent of respondents said McCain has lost touch with Republican voters, including 61 percent of Republicans. That is an 11 percent increase since May among GOP voters who don’t think he represents their base.
Thirty-six percent of likely voters and 33 percent of Republicans said the five-term senator has a done a good job of representing GOP values. Seventeen percent weren’t sure.
Despite discontent within his base, McCain still looks like a strong favorite for re-election. Fifty-six percent of likely voters approved of his job performance, 22 percent strongly. Forty-three percent disapproved, 24 percent strongly.
And 71 percent said McCain is likely to win the Republican primary, where he faces a challenge from Chris Simcox, a founder of the Minuteman group that staunchly opposes illegal immigration. McCain has riled anti-illegal immigrant activists in the past by supporting an immigration overhaul that would create a path to citizenship for some workers in the U.S. illegally. But few observers think that will be enough to topple him.
National Democrats are not targeting the Arizona Senate race in 2010.
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer looks far less secure than McCain. Fifty-seven percent disapprove of Brewer’s job performance since she assumed the post in January, filling the vacancy left by Democrat Janet Napolitano when she left to head up the Department of Homeland Security, while 37 percent approve.
Brewer trailed Attorney General General Terry Goddard, the likely Democratic nominee, in a hypothetical 2010 match-up, 35 percent to 42 percent. Goddard also enjoyed higher favorability ratings, with 54 percent of likely voters saying they view him favorably and 38 percent unfavorably. Like her job performance ratings, Brewer’s favorability ratings were negative - 42 percent favorable to 54 percent unfavorable.
Brewer did top former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington, who has expressed interest in joining the Republican field in 2010. Just 36 percent of likely voters held a favorable view of Symington, while 54 percent viewed him unfavorably. Symington resigned from office in 1997 after being convicted of bank and wire fraud by a federal jury. His conviction was later overturned on appeal.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
CQ Politics currently rates the Senate race as Republican Favored.
To see how the 2010 Senate races are shaping up, check out the CQ Politics’ election map.
CQ Politcs currently rates the governor’s race as Leans Republican.
To follow the 2009 and 2010 governors’ races, check out CQ Politics’ election map.
— Emily Cadei
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Chris Simcox on Poll Showing McCain Out of Touch
In commenting on a September 29th Rasmussen poll, Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps and a Republican challenger for U.S. Senate seat held by John McCain, stated the following:
“It comes as no surprise to me that a Rasmussen poll just released shows that 61% of Arizona republicans think that John McCain is out of touch with the Republican Party. As I’ve been campaigning across Arizona, I’m finding a lot of discontent with McCain among the party base. Every day that I speak to voters further erodes the assumption that McCain will be the republican nominee for the Senate in 2010. We’re slowly gaining on him, and we’re just getting started.”
My Mission in Running Against John McCain
Eight years ago I challenged the status quo on illegal immigration without thought of political party or ideology. My intent was to bring to peoples’ attention the underlying problem of our border insecurity. I felt then that our two main political parties were part of a three-ring circus with Democrats and Republicans whistled on stage by the Ring Master –main stream media personalities. Little has changed.
Today, conservative media personalities seem to be maneuvering to upstage each other. For example: neoconservative Mark Levin has criticized populist Glenn Beck.
In this mix, I consider myself an independent conservative. I don’t fit into any predefined box. My mission is, and always has been, to open the eyes of a widely apathetic citizenry.
I agree with Beck when he says that a President McCain would have been no better than President Obama. It partially explains why I’m challenging John McCain in the Republican primary next August.
McCain voted for TARP. He has nurtured Cap & Trade and accepted the scientifically dubious premise that global warming is man made as well as a clear and present danger to the planet. McCain is engaged in the health care debate when he should be leading a Senate effort to stop it on the ground that it’s unconstitutional. And, McCain supports the failed organization that is the United Nations.
Meanwhile, we learn that Obama plans to cut funding for border security. The truth is that McCain never wanted to fix our porous borders in the first place. I, along with tens of thousands of citizens, held a Tea Party on the border in 2005. We led the charge to stop the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill in 2006. We forced Congress to build over 600 miles of fencing in 2007. Yet, the border problem remains a serious issue regardless of the party in charge. And it will only improve until voters demand change.
On the border issue, Beck is right. A President McCain would have been no better than Obama. In 2004, McCain told me, to my face, that what I was doing on the border would bring more trouble than the drug cartels. Meanwhile, McCain and Obama both sit idly by allowing the drug cartels to expand their criminal activities into U.S. cities and essentially control America’s southern border.
I respect the libertarian principles of Constitution, Freedom and Liberty. I’m running as a registered Republican with the goal of helping move the GOP toward becoming a party that embraces those principles. Among some in the Republican establishment the attitude toward me is “How dare you! Who the hell gave you permission to do this! You’re going to screw the whole damn thing up.”
I fully expected that response. It’s symptomatic of a political party that needs an awakening. And I believe that awakening will be delivered upon it by patriotic voters in 2010 in Arizona.
My response to the GOP establishment, and to Mark Levin, in defense of Beck is that Beck is doing what a good teacher does, and what I did when I was a teacher. He’s starting with the basics - government 101 – and building from there.
My love of the Constitution and my deep respect for the freedom-loving conservatives of Arizona call me to run against John McCain. He, progressive liberals, and the professional GOP party loyalists should take note. People are demanding that politicians return their government to its Constitutional foundation. In the next election, they will elect Congressional representatives who will protect our free market economic system, our borders, and our national security.
So I’m running as a states’ rights candidate. And I will, when elected, work to protect the state from federal government encroachments. I will work closely with Arizona’s elected representatives to protect the rights of Arizona’s citizens. I will not enter the Senate with the overriding goal of working for the GOP or the federal government. I will go to bring a message from the American people that says, “Keep it simple; stay out of our private lives; do what’s necessary to defend the nation. And don’t impede our industry or stand in the way of our enterprising spirit flourishing once again.”
Chris Simcox
Candidate for U.S. Senate Arizona
www.simcoxforsenate.com
Media contact 480-652-1638
Posted by: Chris Simcox
| September 29, 2009 6:16 PM
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