Cronkite-8 Poll: Public Split on Brewer/Public Option

A new Cronkite/Eight Poll shows that the electorate is split on Gov. Jan Brewer, with 39 percent approving of her performance and 39 percent disapproving of her performance. Even more splitting: 40 percent of Republicans disapprove of the job she’s done, while 40 percent of Democrats approve of the job she’s done.

Brewer still trails Attorney General Terry Goddard, the likely Democratic gubernatorial candidate next year, in the approval ratings. The survey showed that 55 percent of voters approve of the job that Goddard has done, while 17 percent disapprove and 28 percent said they didn’t know enough about him to make a call either way.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of voters want some kind of health-care reform out of Washington this year. They were mostly split on the idea of a public option, with nearly half—49 percent—saying they didn’t want a public option, 44 percent said they did want a public option and 7 percent saying they had no opinion.

If you care about such things, there are also numbers for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio

(they’re high) and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas (also high).

Here’s the release:

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.

This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2009.