Any hope that the Republican Party has that it will reclaim Arizona's 11 Electoral College votes in the 2024 presidential election will likely hinge on the party's appeal to the growing number of independents in the state.
However, as the New York Times' Trip Gabriel reports, if Donald Trump is the GOP's presidential nominee the odds of a win in the state worsen because of his unpopularity in the once reliably conservative state.
As the report notes, President Joe Biden, if he is the Democratic nominee, might also struggle to win all the votes belonging to the independents who show up at the polls in 2024.
According to one former Republican turned independent, it will be either Biden or a third-party candidate who will receive her vote even if the former president isn't the GOP nominee.
“The entire Republican Party went so far to the right,” lamented Sheri Schreckengost, 61, before adding, "“Donald Trump changed all that for me. The way things are now, there’s no way I’d vote for a Republican.”
Richard Mocny, a retiree who left the GOP because of Trump, added, "I think we have bigger problems than just Trump being re-elected. Polarization in this country is just fierce. I believe in looking at some of the new third parties popping up.”
The Times report notes, "Arizona’s independent voters, a sampling of whom were interviewed after having participated in an earlier New York Times/Siena College poll, are sure to be just as essential to Mr. Biden next year as they were in 2020. His 10,500-vote margin in Arizona, less than one percentage point, was his narrowest of any state. The Electoral College map of states likely to be the most contested in 2024 has narrowed to a smaller handful than usual: Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin."
Independent Margot Copeland stated keeping Trump out of the Oval Office was paramount.
"I’ll get to the polls and get everybody out to the polls too,” the retiree said before warning, “It’s very important that Trump does not get back in.”
