AZ Poll: GOP’s Kari Lake Leads Democrat Katie Hobbs by 4 Points in Governor’s Race

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Nick Gilbertson

A poll from a left-wing think tank shows Republican Kari Lake holds a four-point lead over Democrat Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in Arizona’s gubernatorial race.

The poll from Data for Progress, described on its website as “the think tank for the future of progressivism,” was released Wednesday and shows 50 percent of likely voters are backing Lake, a former Fox 20 Phoenix anchor, while 46 percent support Hobbs. Just four percent of voters are undecided. Hobbs’s deficit is outside the three percent margin of error.

Lake holds a favorability advantage over Hobbs. Respondents were split on Lake’s rating, as 48 percent find her favorable, and another 48 percent find her unfavorable. Hobbs’s rating is underwater, as just 42 percent of likely voters categorize her as favorable versus 49 percent who say she is unfavorable.

The poll also gauged issue importance among voters, finding that the economy and inflation are the most pressing issues this cycle. Of respondents, 45 percent said they were most concerned about “addressing economic conditions, like inflation and the cost of food.” Just 17 percent say “access to legal and safe abortion,” while another 34 percent say their biggest concern is either the Democrat Party moving further left (15 percent) or the Republican Party moving further right (19 percent).

Hobbs has drawn scrutiny for refusing to debate Lake and for her performance as secretary of state. The Democrat would not share the stage with Lake under any circumstances despite efforts from the state’s Clean Election Commission and the Republican’s campaign to make it happen. Lake has blasted Hobbs as a “coward” for doing her.

At a recent press conference, Lake offered Hobbs the chance to “write the questions for” her, promised she “wouldn’t interrupt” Hobbs, and conceded that the Democrat could bring “an emotional support animal” to the stage if she needed one.

“We have serious issues facing this great state of ours. We’ve got the narcoterrorists controlling our border right now. How in the heck are you going to go up against them if you’re afraid to debate me here at PBS?” Lake went on to ask Hobbs.

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Making things worse for Hobbs, last week, the Associated Press reported that up to 6,000 faulty ballots that only listed federal races were sent to voters under her watch as secretary of state. Hobbs asserted that affected voters would soon receive complete ballots.

The poll sampled 893 likely voters between October 11-17 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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