Clinton Projected To Win Arizona

In an election already predicated on historical significance, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is projected to win the state of Arizona. Since 1920, the Arizona majority has only voted Democrat twice: Franklin Roosevelt to the presidency, and Bill Clinton for his second term.

According to FiveThirtyEight, Clinton’s projected chance of winning Arizona’s 11 electoral college votes has risen to 52.1 percent. An Emerson college poll, conducted Oct. 2-4, shows Clinton with 44 percent support in the state, and Republican nominee Donald Trump with 42 percent. A Google Consumer Surveys poll, conducted Oct. 4-9, has Clinton besting Trump 38 percent to 36 percent.

“We’re always looking at those states to see if it is worth” spending money on television advertisements and other mobilization efforts, said Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton’s communications director, reports The Washington Post.

“Obviously, our biggest goal is to get to 270, and that is what we designed the campaign to do, but we are looking at these other expansion states, as we refer to them — Utah, Arizona, Georgia — to see if there’s opportunity there.”

“If you’ve got friends in Utah or Arizona, make sure they vote, too,” Clinton said at a recent campaign rally.

“If you look at Arizona when it comes to voter registration, the state is split almost evenly in thirds, with independents, Republicans, and Democrats making up those large portions,” said Christopher Conover, of Arizona Public Media, reports PBS. “Independents are the largest bloc. They picked up 51,000 new voters just this week. … So, the state is split very interestingly along political lines. And Arizona’s always marched to its own drummer a little bit also politically.”

“So it will be very interesting to see how that Hispanic vote comes down, especially with so much that goes on with immigration in this campaign,” Conover added on the issue of the Hispanic vote in Arizona. “In Arizona, immigration isn’t necessarily something we talk about, especially in Southern Arizona. It’s just part of life.”

Sources: FiveThirtyEight, The Washington Post, PBS / Photo credit: Hillary Clinton/Instagram