Arizona voters may punish Trump-loving governor -- here's why

Arizona voters are looking to take out their anger at Gov. Doug Ducey's response to the coronavirus by backing Democrat Joe Biden.

The state emerged as a COVID-19 hotspot by June, when Maricopa County was reporting up to 3,000 cases a day, a month after Ducey, under pressure from President Donald Trump and his anti-mask supporters, announced he was reopening the state -- and voters haven't forgotten, reported The Guardian.

“I would watch our governor doing his press conferences, and I would just get angry,” said Bill Whitmire, a 56-year-old from Phoenix who is still struggling with bouts of confusion and depression since recovering from the virus.

Ducey banned local governments from imposing stricter coronavirus measures than the state, until he backed off under pressure from medical experts, and his approval rating fell from about 50 percent to 35 percent in July, before rising a few points in late summer after infection rates dropped.

“When COVID hit, it really changed the concerns of voters to the point where immigration is no longer in the top three,” said pollster Mike Noble.

Arizona voters listed immigration, education and health care as their top concerns last year, but their priorities had changed in September to education, health care and the economy -- and many of them remain angry at Ducey and the president for mishandling the pandemic that killed their loved ones.

“The notion that these millions of families who have been touched by Covid would ever consider it trivial is absurd,” said Linda Brown, 62, who lost her father to the virus.

Recent polls show Biden leading Trump by 52-46 among voters over 65 in this traditionally Republican state, and those voters trusted the former vice president on COVID-19 more than the president by nearly a 20-point margin.

“If my father didn’t have dementia, if he was aware," Brown said, "he would have been pissed off that this mishandling is what killed him.”