Arizona governor’s race: New poll shows tight contest between Hobbs, Lake

PHOENIX - A new poll shows Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Kari Lake essentially tied in the race to be Arizona’s next governor, separated by a single percentage point with one in five independent voters still undecided just weeks before ballots are mailed out.

The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com/Suffolk University poll of 500 likely midterm voters gave Hobbs a razor-thin lead over Lake, with 46% of respondents saying they would certainly or probably vote for Hobbs versus 45% for Lake. That’s within the poll’s margin of error.

Likely voters also were asked to evaluate outgoing Republican Gov. Doug Ducey's job performance, which sagged during the pandemic. Forty percent of respondents viewed his performance positively, while 49% rated it unfavorably. In a similar poll from October 2020, 35% viewed Ducey favorably and 42% rated him unfavorably.