Poll: Arizona voters undecided about down-ballot races

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(The Center Square) - A new poll shows the vast majority of Arizona voters are undecided in state-level down-ballot races.

Noble Predictive Insights released a poll last week showing that nearly two-thirds of Arizona voters are unsure who to vote for in state primaries.

The NPI poll examined the GOP primary races for secretary of state, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction and corporation commission, as well as the Democratic primary races of the superintendent of public instruction and corporation commission.

Most Arizonans are not focusing on “down-ticket statewide races,” Mike Noble, NPI’s CEO, told The Center Square.

“Political insiders are, but Arizona voters aren’t,” he explained.

Arizonans will start paying more attention to these races once political candidates start spending money and early ballots are mailed to voters, Noble said.

According to Noble, Arizona residents who are not political insiders don’t sit “around the kitchen table” discussing these political races.

Arizona's voters “have a lot going on,” and they are probably still pretty fatigued from the last presidential election,” Noble said.

Of these down-ballot races, the primary race that will be the “most high-profile” will be the state’s Republican superintendent of public instruction race because “education has been a hot-button issue in Arizona politics,” Noble explained. He added that both candidates, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and State Treasurer Kimberly Yee are " well-known” political figures.

The NPI poll showed that 44% of Arizona registered Republicans were undecided voters, the lowest of all the primary races.  

If someone is associated with a down-ticket race, the NPI poll should notify them that Arizona voters are not “paying attention right now” and “fundraising should be critically important at this point,” Noble explained.

Broadcast spending is the “most effective way to move the needle or educate voters” in Arizona, he said.

The numbers show that these political candidates “need to increase their name ID or awareness,” Noble said, adding that they need to “form a favorable impression upon these voters because a lot of them haven’t formed an opinion.”

 ”When voters start paying attention, they need to have the resources to get their message out and break through the clutter to say who they are. And why they're running and why they should be voted for,” Noble told The Center Square.

The poll’s error rate was ± 5.37%.