Campaign

Poll: Sinema leads McSally by 7 points in Arizona Senate race

by Emily Birnbaum - 09/17/18 12:24 PM ET

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) is advancing her lead over GOP Rep. Martha McSally (Ariz.) in the Arizona Senate race, according to a new CNN poll.

Sinema is leading McSally by 7 points, with Sinema at 50 percent and McSally at 43 percent among likely voters in Arizona, the poll found.

{mosads}Recent polls have found Sinema leading McSally by a slimmer margin, with Sinema holding a 3 percent edge over her GOP opponent in a Fox News poll last week.

McSally and Sinema are facing off in a heated race to replace retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).

The CNN poll found that both candidates are viewed more positively than negatively, with more than 20 percent of likely voters responding they have no opinion of either.

The Arizona Senate race is one of the most closely-followed of the November midterms, as Democrats see it as an opportunity to flip a deep-red seat.

If elected, Sinema would become the first openly bisexual member of the U.S. Senate, according to LGBT political advocacy organization Victory Fund.

Nonpartisan political website The Cook Political Report has labeled the race a “toss up.”

The CNN poll was conducted Sept. 11-15 and interviewed 1,001 likely voters in Arizona. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Tags Jeff Flake Martha McSally