Hobbs, Lake locked in tight race for Arizona governor: polls

Two new Arizona gubernatorial polls show Republican Kari Lake and Democrat Katie Hobbs in a tight contest with Election Day six weeks away.

A Marist poll of registered Arizona voters released on Wednesday shows Lake, a former TV journalist, with 46 percent support, a 1-point edge over her Democratic opponent, who is also Arizona’s secretary of state.

But a Suffolk University-Arizona Republic poll released on Tuesday showed the two candidates swapped, with Hobbs holding a 1-point lead with 46 percent support.

Both polls showed Hobbs with a positive favorability rating, while Lake’s favorability clocked in underwater.

The Suffolk University poll indicated 44 percent of voters viewed Hobbs favorably, compared to 32 percent who viewed her unfavorably. Lake, meanwhile, was seen favorably by 41 percent of voters and unfavorably by 46 percent.

In the Marist poll, 39 percent saw Hobbs and Lake favorably. But 42 percent had an unfavorable view of Lake, surpassing the 36 percent who held an unfavorable opinion of Hobbs.

The polls are the latest signs of what could be a close contest in November. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a “toss up.”

The Marist poll found that most Arizonans with a candidate preference — 72 percent — strongly support their choice for governor.

But the poll also suggests some may be voting for different parties depending on the race. Despite the poll predicting a close gubernatorial contest, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) led his Republican opponent Blake Masters by 10 points in the same survey.

“Ticket-splitting between Democrat Kelly for Senate and Republican Lake for governor is mostly occurring in vote-rich Maricopa County,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said in a statement. “The Democratic candidates for Senate and governor are both carrying Pima County while both Republican candidates lead in the rest of the state.”

The Marist poll was conducted between Sept. 19-22 through interviews with 1,260 people. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.6 percent.

The Suffolk University-Arizona Republic poll was conducted between Sept. 21-25 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.