Penzone widens lead on Arpaio

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is trailing his Democratic challenger Paul Penzone by nearly 15 points, according to an Arizona Republic/Morrison/ Cronkite News poll released Wednesday.

The poll was conducted Oct. 10-15 as news broke that federal prosecutors would file a criminal-contempt charge against Arpaio in a racial-profiling case. Penzone has led most polls shared publicly in the race so far but by smaller margins.

Arpaio’s campaign criticized the survey and published its own showing Arpaio, a Republi-

can, up by almost 8 points.

The Arizona Republic/Morrison/Cronkite News poll found support for Penzone at 45.9 percent, compared with Arpaio’s 31.1 percent among the 466 Maricopa County registered voters surveyed. About a fifth of respondents were undecided. The margin of error was plus or minus 5.6 points.

When undecided voters were asked which way they were leaning, Penzone led by close to 13 points.

The poll also indicated that more men support Penzone than women, 52.2 percent to 39.7 percent, potentially as a result of Arpaio’s television ads attacking Penzone over protective orders he and his wife filed against each other during a domestic dispute.

Respondents were also asked to describe their opinion of Arpaio, along with other politicians. Of respondents, 53.3 percent said they viewed Arpaio unfavorably or very unfavorably. That’s slightly down from an August survey by the Arizona Republic/Morrison/Cronkite News that found total unfavorables for Arpaio at 57.3 percent. Neither poll asked voters for their opinion of Penzone.

Jeremy Nolt, a 24-year-old Republican supporter of Arpaio, said he thinks more voters will show up at the ballot box than tell pollsters that they support the sheriff and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

“A lot of people are hesitant to support Sheriff Joe even by phone because of his so-called controversial tactics,” said Nolt, a Trump volunteer from Mesa. “I think you’ll see a lot of closet voters come out on Election Day and vote for him. I have confidence that he will win.”

Nolt applauded Arpaio for seeking to enforce immigration laws, creating Tent City to hold prisoners outdoors at a lower cost and continuing to support Trump, even as other Republicans jumped ship. Nolt said he also believes the federal cases against Arpaio are politically motivated by a Democratic administration, noting that the DOJ announced they would file a criminal-contempt charge as early ballots went out.

“I think there are a lot of forces against him,” Nolt said.

Kathy Bezon, a 71-year-old Ahwatukee Foothills independent, said she already sent in her ballot for Penzone.

“We need a new direction. We need a better way of dealing with the responsibilities of the sheriff’s department,” she said. “I think he would come in and do things differently.”

Bezon called on Arpaio to let go of federal