If next year's presidential election were held today, President Barack Obama would carry Republican-leaning Arizona, according to a recent poll.
According to a Rocky Mountain poll released yesterday, Obama leads all possible Republican candidates in Arizona by at least a five-percentage-point margin.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is the GOP candidate who comes closest to Obama, according to the poll, trailing the president 45-percent to 40-percent.
Texas Governor Rick Perry and businessman Herman Cain are the GOP's silver-medalists, each trailing Obama 45-percent to 38-percent.
For the record, each of those candidates have sought the endorsement of Maricopa County's 79-year-old sheriff, Joe Arpaio.
The results of the poll have caused CNN's Deputy Political Director Paul
Steinhauser to conclude that Arizona could be "competitive in the
general election," which is somewhat surprising considering the state's
Republican leanings.
"All year long, we've seen Republican presidential candidates overreach
and go to extremes," Arizona Democratic Chairman Andrei Cherny says,
"and Mitt Romney's recent call to let homeowners hit rock bottom only
reinforces that the GOP is out of touch with the mainstream. Republicans
may be in for a rude awakening in 2012."
Obama did much better than expected in Arizona -- his opponent Senator John McCain's home
state -- in the 2008 presidential election, losing to McCain by about
200,000 votes.
