In a word, wow:
Senator John McCain’s future in the U.S. Senate may be a little less assured than previously thought.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely 2010 Republican Primary voters in Arizona finds the longtime incumbent in a virtual tie with potential challenger J.D. Hayworth. McCain earns 45% of the vote, while Hayworth picks up 43%.
Former Minuteman leader Chris Simcox gets four percent (4%) support, while two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate and seven percent (7%) are undecided.
Hayworth, a conservative former U.S. congressman who now is a popular radio talk show host in Phoenix, is reportedly interested in the race but has not formally declared for it. He captures 59% of the male GOP vote, while McCain wins 58% of female voters.
Something tells me Hayworth is thinking this over this morning.
One thing to note is that Arizona has an open primary for every office but President, so Independents who intend to vote in the GOP primary should be considered as well.
Hayworth is too much of a social conservative for my tastes. Generally I’m going to stick with whomever is least married to the religious right.
Technically, Arizona has a semi-closed primary. Registered Republicans can only vote in the Republican primary; registered Democrats can only vote in the Democratic primary; but independents can vote in any party’s primary.
“Open primary”, used in 22 states, is a system in which any voter is free to vote in any party’s primary. The “open primary” states don’t even ask a question about party membership on the voter registration form. So there is no such thing as a registered Republican or a registered Democrat. That’s not Arizona’s system.
This is good news.