MARICOPA COUNTY VOTERS SUPPORT THOMAS, ARPAIO OVER RECALL EFFORT
By JONATHAN J. COOPER
Of those with an opinion, 62 percent say it is positive of Thomas and 65 percent say it is positive of Arpaio. Nearly three in four of those with an opinion oppose the idea of recalling Arpaio and Thomas.
Poll director Bruce Merrill, a retired Arizona State University professor, said the support for Arpaio and Thomas will make it difficult for a citizens group to collect the more than 200,000 signatures necessary to require a recall vote.
“It’s going to be very difficult for the people who want to recall both of them to get enough signatures … because two out of every three voters have a favorable opinion of them.”
The recall movement began after a special prosecutor hired by Thomas issued a broad subpoena to the alternative weekly newspaper Phoenix New Times. Newspaper executives Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey were arrested last month by county sheriff’s deputies after reporting on the secret subpoena, and Thomas dropped the investigation after a public outcry.
Leonard Clark, a recall organizer, said the movement will gather steam as his group spreads its message leading into a February deadline.
“All of this is just a matter of going up to the big Berlin Wall with our little hammers and chipping away,” Clark said. “I would love to see it the other way around, but it doesn’t discourage us.”
The poll found that 35 percent of Maricopa County voters with an opinion about Arpaio rated it as “very positive,” while 30 percent rated it “generally positive.” Eighteen percent reported a “somewhat negative” opinion, and 17 percent reported a “very negative” opinion.
For Thomas, 10 percent with an opinion reported it as “very positive,” while 52 percent reported a “generally positive” opinion. Twenty-three percent reported a “somewhat negative” opinion, and 15 percent reported a “very negative” opinion.
Overall, 35 percent said they had no opinion of Thomas, while 4 percent said the same of Arpaio.
“It makes me feel good because not only do I have Republican backing, I have Democrats and independents,” said Arpaio, a Republican. “I am the sheriff of everyone.”
Barnett Lotstein, a special assistant county attorney who serves as a spokesman for Thomas’ office, said officials there were pleased with the poll results.
“It’s an indication that the policies of the county attorney have resonated with the public, and we will continue to follow those policies,” Lotstein said.
Seventy-one percent of those surveyed said they had heard about the New Times case. Of those, 49 percent said the New Times executives should not have been arrested, while 34 percent said they should have been.
The poll, conducted Thursday to Sunday by ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Eight/KAET-TV, involved 697 registered voters in Maricopa County. It has a sampling error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
The Cronkite School operates Cronkite News Service.
On other subjects:
_ Twenty-seven percent identified illegal immigration as the biggest quality-of-life concern in Maricopa County. Running a distant second at 10 percent each: health care and air quality.
_ Thirty-one percent said protecting the border was the most important thing to be done to address illegal immigration, while 16 percent said the government should deport illegal immigrants and enforce existing laws.