Poll says Arizona primary race between John McCain, Kelli Ward is a toss-up
Aug 29, 2016, 12:23 PM
PHOENIX — Maybe U.S. Sen. John McCain’s lead isn’t as big as we thought.
Though a CNN poll last week gave the incumbent senator a large lead over his challenger in Tuesday’s Arizona primary election, former state Sen. Kelli Ward, one released Monday paints a different picture.
Monday’s poll — conducted by Breitbart News Network and Gravis Marketing — showed McCain leading Ward by just four percentage points, which is slightly larger than the poll’s margin of error of 3.4 points.
Late last week, Ward said voters should consider McCain’s health when they cast their ballot. The senator turns 80 on Monday.
Of the 1,244 voters surveyed, slightly more than 61 percent said they have not yet cast a ballot in the primary.
However, Ward still faces an uphill battle. About 46 percent of respondents who cast an early ballot said they voted for McCain, while 35 percent said they voted for Ward.
Respondents heavily favored either McCain or Ward in November’s general election against likely Democratic nominee U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick.
About 35 percent of respondents said they identify as independent, while 34 percent said they identify as Republican and 31 percent Democrat.
The poll was conducted on Saturday and the results were released Monday.