Although Arizona Senator John McCain hasn't officially announced he'll be seeking another term, recent comments and a glitzy fundraiser in New York City indicate he'll be putting himself up for re-election.
But according to a new statewide poll conducted by Citizens United Political Victory Fund, the vast majority of Arizona Republicans aren't so keen on McCain staying in office.
Arizona Senator John McCain confronts a very challenging primary landscape should he decide to run for a sixth term in 2016. Although his job approval-disapproval rating among Republicans statewide is evenly split, and his image is slightly underwater (47.7% favorable, 51.4% unfavorable), it is the fact that Republican Primary voters in Arizona are over twice as likely to elect “a new person” (64.2%) than they are to re-elect McCain (29.3%) that spells trouble.
This is not simply “trouble with the Tea Party” or “far-right angst.” Senator McCain struggles at various levels with Republicans across the ideological spectrum, as shown in the Appendix (Tea Party Republicans, Strong, Republicans, Not-so-strong Republicans and Independents).
In addition, the poll detailed potential primary match-ups between Governor Jan Brewer, Rep. Matt Salmon, Rep. David Schweikert and McCain. At this point, McCain would lose to all three.
Senator McCain also loses to every Republican tested in head-to-head primary balloting. In separate questions, Arizona Republicans prefer both current Governor Jan Brewer (47.7%-29.0%) and Fifth District Representative Matt Salmon (48.2%-30.3%) by double-digit margins. Sixth U.S. District Representative David Schweikert also bests McCain on the Primary ballot (40.1%-33.9%), albeit by a narrower spread.
Late last year when asked about whether he would seek another term in office, McCain said he didn't want to "be one of these old guys that should’ve shoved off.”
