Liberals are upset Democratic Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema opposes the $3.5 trillion social welfare package that is on the verge of being stalled indefinitely. But Sinema appears to know exactly what she is doing.
A poll from OH Predictive Insights shows Sinema has a higher approval rating in Arizona than fellow Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. While Kelly is immensely popular among Democrats, his net approval among independents is just +1, while Sinema’s is +6.
Sinema’s approval rating of 40% among Republicans is double that of Kelly. Overall, Sinema’s net approval rating is +7, while Kelly’s is +4.
Liberals will likely complain this is because Sinema is essentially a Republican. But in terms of votes that have actually reached the Senate floor, Sinema has voted with her party 100% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight. That is higher than many Democratic senators, including Montana’s Jon Tester, New Jersey’s Cory Booker, New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand, and Vermont’s Bernie Sanders.
In that same OHPI poll, Kelly struggled to reach 45% of voters against a series of prospective GOP challengers. Arizona is still not a Democratic state — President Joe Biden narrowly won it in 2020, as did Kelly. Sinema narrowly won her race in 2018.
According to a Civiqs poll, Arizona residents disapprove of Biden by a margin of 53%-39%. That bodes ill for Kelly, whose polling leads over GOP candidates — such as Arizona attorney general Mark Brnovich and Michael McGuire, the retired adjunct general of the Arizona National Guard — have decreased since OHPI polled the race in May.
Perhaps Sinema understands her constituents better than angry Democrats in New York or Washington, D.C. Maybe Democrats will reconsider their attitude toward her if Kelly and their tiebreaker Senate majority are swept out during the midterm elections.
