EMBARGOED UNTIL 7 P.M. Tuesday, October 27, 2009
FOR INFORMATION:
Dr. Bruce Merrill at 602-618-1320
• Maricopa County voters support Sheriff Joe; disagree with government decision to
limit immigration authority
• Andrew Thomas gets high rating as Maricopa County Attorney
• Voters want a health care bill this year; support divided on public option
• Job performance ratings for Gov. Brewer mixed
• Most cannot evaluate performance of Arizona Secretary of State or Treasurer
• Majority of state’s voters say they won’t get vaccinated for swine flu
TEMPE, Ariz. –– Controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio gets high job performance ratings for the job he is doing, according to a new Cronkite/Eight poll. The poll, conducted Oct. 22-25, found that 61 percent of Maricopa County voters (64 percent of those with an opinion) strongly approved (39 percent) or approved (22 percent) of the sheriff’s performance. Thirty-four percent either disapproved (13 percent) or strongly disapproved (22 percent), and 4 percent had no opinion.
In addition, by an almost two-to-one margin (60 percent to 36 percent), county voters disagreed with the decision by the federal government to take away the sheriff department’s ICE authority to enforce immigration laws during community crime sweeps. Four percent said they had no opinion. Republicans, people with lower levels of formal education, and social conservatives were most supportive of the sheriff; Democrats; voters with higher levels of formal education, and social moderates were least supportive.
The poll also found that Maricopa County voters give Andrew Thomas high marks for his performance as Maricopa County Attorney. Forty-four percent approved of the job he is doing (64 percent of those with an opinion), 23 percent disapproved, and 33 percent said they had no opinion.
The new poll also shows that, statewide, 22 percent of Arizona voters still don’t know enough about Gov. Jan Brewer to rate the job she is doing. Thirty-nine percent approve of her performance and 39 percent disapprove. Among those with an opinion, 50 percent approve and 50 percent disapprove of her performance as governor. Interestingly, while 40 percent of Republicans disapproved of her performance, 40 percent of the Democrats approved of the job she is doing.
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard received positive job performance ratings from 55 percent of Arizona’s voters while17 percent did not approve and 28 percent could not evaluate him. Seventy-six percent of those with an opinion gave the attorney general a high job performance rating.
The poll also showed that Arizona voters are unfamiliar with two other state officials, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett and State Treasurer Dean Martin. Although 69 percent of those polled said they did not know enough about Bennett to rate him and 50 percent could not rate Martin, both officials received good job ratings among those who did know about them. Overall, 20 percent approved of the job Bennett is doing as secretary of state and 11 percent disapproved, while 32 percent approved of the job Martin is doing as treasurer and18 percent disapproved. Among those with an opinion, 64 percent of Arizona’s voters approved of the job both Bennett and Martin are doing as state officials.
On another topic, Arizona voters want the U.S. Congress to vote on a health care reform bill this year. Sixty-seven percent said it was important for a vote to be held, 30 percent said it was not important and three percent were undecided. When asked if a public option should be included in a health reform bill, 44 percent said they want the bill to have a public option, 49 percent were opposed and 7 percent said they didn’t have an opinion.
The poll also found that while 58 percent of the state’s voters say they will get a seasonal flu shot this year, only 41 percent said they will get a swine flu vaccination when adequate swine flu vaccine is available.
The poll was conducted by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University and Eight/KAET. The statewide sample of 652 registered voters was 37 percent Republican, 34 percent Democrat and 29 percent Independent. Fifty-nine percent of the interviews were conducted in Maricopa County, 17 percent in Pima County and 24 percent in Arizona’s other counties. Forty-nine percent of the voters interviewed were men and 51 percent are women. The sampling error for the statewide sample survey is plus or minus 3.8 percent. The sampling error for the Maricopa County sample, which included 389 registered voters, is plus or minus 5.0 percent.
Question wording:
First, please tell me if you approve or disapprove of the job the following Arizona state-level officials are doing. If you don’t feel you know enough about how they are doing to have an opinion, just tell me and I’ll go on to the next one. Let’s start with Governor Jan Brewer. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job she is doing?
Overall Among those with an opinion
strongly approve 2% 2%
approve 37% 48%
disapprove 30% 39%
strongly disapprove 9% 11%
don’t know/no opinion 22% -----
How about the job Terry Goddard is doing as attorney general? Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job he is doing?
Overall Among those with an opinion
strongly approve 1% 15%
approve 44% 61%
disapprove 13% 18%
strongly disapprove 4% 6%
don’t know/no opinion 28% -----
What about the job Ken Bennett is doing as secretary of state? Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job he is doing?
Overall Among those with an opinion
strongly approve 1% 3%
approve 19% 61%
disapprove 9% 30%
strongly disapprove 2% 6%
don’t know/no opinion 69% -----
How about the job Dean Martin is doing as state treasurer? Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job he is doing?
Overall Among those with an opinion
strongly approve 7% 14%
approve 25% 50%
disapprove 15% 31%
strongly disapprove 3% 5%
don’t know/no opinion 50% -----
How important do you think it is for Congress to vote this year on a bill to reform our health care system? Do you think it is very important, important, not very important, or not at all important?
very important 48%
important 19%
not very important 11%
not at all important 19%
don’t know/no opinion 3%
Would you favor or oppose creating a public health insurance option administered by the federal government that would compete with plans offered by private insurance companies?
favor 44%
oppose 49%
don’t know/no opinion 7%
Now, turning to the swine flu, when a vaccination becomes readily available in Arizona, will you get a swine flu vaccination?
yes 41%
no 54%
don’t know/no opinion 5%
Regardless of how you feel about getting a swine flu vaccination, have you had or will you have a regular flu shot this year?
yes 58%
no 41%
don’t know/no opinion 1%
IF MARICOPA COUNTY: Please tell me if you approve or disapprove of the job the following Maricopa County officials are doing. Again, if you don’t have enough information about how they are doing to rate them, just tell me and I’ll go to the next person. Let’s start with County Attorney Andrew Thomas. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove (9%/14) of the job he is doing?
Overall Among those with an opinion
strongly approve 12% 17%
approve 32% 47%
disapprove 14% 22%
strongly disapprove 9% 14%
don’t know/no opinion 33% -----
IF MARICOPA COUNTY: How about the job Sheriff Joe Arpaio is doing. Do you strongly approve, approve, disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job he is doing?
Overall Among those with an opinion
strongly approve 39% 41%
approve 22% 23%
disapprove 13% 14%
strongly disapprove 22% 22%
don’t know/no opinion 4% -----
IF MARICOPA COUNTY: Under an agreement with the federal government, the Maricopa County sheriff’s department has had the authority to arrest illegal immigrants in the community and to screen the immigration status of people booked into the county jail. Recently, the federal government restricted Sheriff Arpaio to ONLY checking the immigration status of people when they are checked into jail. Do you agree or disagree with the decision to limit Arpaio’s immigration authority?
agree 36%
disagree 60%
don’t know/no opinion 4%
Thank you very much for helping with our poll. The results will be presented on the Horizon program on KAET-TV, Channel 8, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 27, or you can see the results online at www.az.pbs.org
