It’s been a rough couple of weeks for Senator Jeff Flake. He’s been in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons, and knows he will have to fight just to keep his job. Last week, he was called out on national television by President Trump at his rally in Phoenix, Arizona.
Although Trump didn’t mention him by name, it was no secret who he was talking about when he said, “And nobody wants me to talk about your other senator. Who is weak on borders, weak on crime.”
The President has also attacked him on twitter, while praising his Republican opponent, Kelli Ward.
And if things weren’t bad enough, Breitbart News released a poll from JMC Analytics that has his opponent Kelli Ward up nearly 26 points. Ward received 47 percent support, while Flake received just 21 percent.
It looks like Trump’s support will play a major role in the election. The poll found 76 percent of respondents approve of the President’s job performance.
Additionally, it asked about Trump’s criticism of Flake as “weak on borders, crime, and a non-factor in the Senate” and noted Trump “wants to unseat Senator Flake in the Republican primary.” 60 percent of respondents said this makes them less likely to support Senator Flake.
They surveyed 500 Arizona likely GOP voters from August 26 to August 27, with a margin of error of 4.4 percent and a confidence interval of 95 percent.
Flake was critical of Trump during the 2016 election, and Ward isn’t going to let voters in Arizona forget it.
She told Brietbart News Sunday, “His popularity wasn’t even very high before he started on this anti-Trump tirade that he has been on. You know he has been a Never Trumper forever. He was a Never Trumper during the primary. He said that Donald Trump was not his 14th choice to be our nominee.”
With about a year to go until the primary in Arizona, this would be a substantial lead for Flake to comeback from. It follows a trend of conservatives across the country backing candidates they believe will stand behind the President and his agenda.
