Poll: Nearly two-thirds of Arizona voters do not want US-Mexico border wall
May 4, 2017, 6:15 AM | Updated: 12:24 pm
FILE - In this June 13, 2013, file photo, hands from Daniel Zambrano of Tijuana, Mexico, hold on to the bars that make up the border wall separating the U.S. and Mexico as the border meets the Pacific Ocean in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
(AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
PHOENIX — Nearly two-thirds of Arizona voters do not want a border wall constructed on the United States-Mexico border, a KTAR News/OH Predictive Insights poll released Wednesday said.
Sixty-two percent of respondents to the poll indicated they do not want the wall. Thirty-seven percent said they supported the wall, while 1 percent either did not know or refused to answer.
“The opposition to the wall, I think, comes from a variety of sectors, especially economic reasons,” U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said when asked about the poll results.
Grijalva’s district includes the Arizona-Mexico border.
(KTAR News Photo)
The border wall enjoyed more support among respondents who were 45 or older and lived in either Maricopa County or rural Arizona.
Only 28 percent of Pima County voters said they support the wall.
“People closer to the borderlands have more opposition to it given that they’ve seen the effects of what’s there already along the southern border,” Grijalva said.
A different poll, conducted in January, showed more than half of Arizona did not want to see the wall built.
The poll from Data Orbital said 54 percent of Arizona voters are against the border wall, while 39 percent said they are in favor of it — a larger split than seen in an October poll about the same topic.
However, should construction of the wall go forward, Arizona voters were more divided on where the estimated $21.6 billion to build it should come from.
(KTAR News Photo)
The KTAR News/OHPI poll showed just 17 percent of respondents favor Mexico footing the bill, as was the campaign promise of President Donald Trump. Mexican officials have said their nation would not pay for the wall.
Nineteen percent said the bill should be sent to the American federal government.
The largest group — 33 percent — said they would like to see the funding come from elsewhere. The poll did not ask for specifics.
The KTAR News/OHPI poll was conducted on May 1 by OH Predictive Insights — an Arizona-based polling company — in partnership with KTAR News 92.3 FM.
Survey Methodology
This live and automated caller survey was conducted on May 1 from an active Arizona registered voter sample. The sample size was 401 completed surveys, with a MoE of +/-4.89 percent. Of the surveys, 35 percent were conducted on cell phones and 65 percent via landlines. The party affiliation, geographic, gender and age demographics accurately reflect active registered voters in Arizona in this sample.
KTAR’s Paul Ihander and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
