Brewer’s approval rating after almost a year in office is only 26%, with 43% of voters
disapproving of her. There is very little polarization along party lines in her reviews-
28% of Republicans, 26% of independents, and 24% of Democrats think she’s doing a
good job.
44% of voters in the state have a positive opinion of Goddard to 22% unfavorable. He
leads Brewer 46-36 in a potential match up for next year.
Because of Brewer’s perilous standing within her own party PPP also looked at how State
Treasurer Dean Martin and former Governor Fife Symington might fare against Goddard.
Symington appears to be pretty much a nonstarter. Only 17% of Arizonans have a
favorable opinion of him, with 54% viewing him unfavorably. He trails Goddard 52-29
in a possible contest.
Martin may be the best hope for Republicans, even though he is the least well known of
the GOP trio we tested. 54% of voters don’t know enough about him to have formed an
opinion, but he nevertheless comes the closest to Goddard, trailing 45-37.
“This is the first poll in months where we’ve found a Democratic challenger leading a
Republican incumbent anywhere across the country,” said Dean Debnam, President of
Public Policy Polling. “Jan Brewer’s one of the least popular Governors anywhere and
that’s put Terry Goddard in a strong position.”
PPP will release numbers looking at John McCain’s current standing in the state
tomorrow.
PPP surveyed 617 Arizona voters from September 18th to 21st. The survey’s margin of
error is +/-3.9%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and weighting, may
introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify.