Ted Cruz Gaining Favor With Arizona Voters But Still No Match for Donald Trump, New Poll Shows

If the Republican primary were held today, more than half of Arizona voters would cast a ballot for Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, a new poll by the political consulting firm MBQF finds.

While Arizona’s love affair with Trump should come as no surprise — he’s dominated polls here and nationwide since last summer — the rest of the poll has changed dramatically in recent months.

Consider Ted Cruz: As of this week, 15.6 percent of the state’s Republican voters say they want him to be the next president, whereas only 6.2 percent did in September.

Remember Ben Carson? The neurosurgeon turned politician once was more popular than Trump among Arizona voters, but his campaign began to tank after some of his senior political advisers called him dumb and quit.

In November, 25.5 percent of those polled were on Team Carson. Now, it’s 7.1 percent.

And mirroring her nationwide numbers, Carly Fiorina had her moment in the spotlight with Arizona voters but now is closer to the bottom of the poll. Voters weren’t even asked about her in July, but by August, she shot up to 10.4 percent following a stellar performance at the GOP debate, and then slowly began to decline in popularity.

She received 9.3 percent of the vote in September, 3.5 percent in November, and is now polling at about 2.9 percent.

Marco Rubio currently is in third place, representing the only candidate other than Trump and Cruz to pull in double digits.

In fact, when taken together, Trump, Cruz, and Rubio represent two-thirds of the state's Republican vote.  

This said, with an energetic Sarah Palin now endorsing Trump, and the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary quickly approaching, who knows what will happen? 

But remember, if you want to participate in the Arizona primary on March 22, you need to be registered to vote by February 22.

Check out the Secretary of State's website for more details.