Poll shows Flake down huge in primary and general election

A new poll shows Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) down by huge numbers among Arizona Republicans and trailing his opponents in both the GOP primary and general elections.

Flake scored only a 25 percent favorability rating among Republican primary voters in a new poll by the left-leaning GBA Strategies group, with a 56 percent unfavorable rating. Over half of voters disapprove of the job Flake is doing, with 59 percent disapproving and only 34 percent approving. 

A consistent critic of President Trump, Flake authored a book called “Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle,” calling on the GOP to reject many of the populist and economic protectionist policies advocated by the president.

{mosads}The survey also shows Flake trailing Republican primary opponent Kelli Ward in a head-to-head matchup 58-31 percent. He trails by more than 20 points among registered Republicans and unaffiliated voters and is behind in every region in the state. 

Kelli Ward lost the 2016 Arizona Republican primary to Arizona’s senior senator, John McCain, and drew strong criticism for urging McCain to step down in the wake of his brain cancer diagnosis in July, saying she hoped that Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) would consider appointing her to the office if McCain were to resign.

The poll also shows Flake trails Democratic opponent U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D), a DREAM Act proponent, in a general election matchup by 47-40 percent. 

Among general election voters, Flake also suffers negative ratings across party lines. Independents give Flake only a 20 percent favorability rating and a 50 percent unfavorable rating, similar to the Democrats’ ratings of 17 percent favorable and 51 percent unfavorable. 

The GBA Strategies poll surveyed 600 likely 2018 midterm election voters and 500 likely voters in the state’s 2018 Republican primary from Aug. 30 to Sept. 7, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points for the general sample, and 4.4 percentage points for the Republican primary voter sample.

The poll was conducted for the Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC aiming to win a Democratic majority in the Senate.