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Ask likely voters in Arizona – one of the states with a moderate Democratic senator opposed to ending filibustering – and they’re more interested in passing major legislation than keeping the rules of the Senate intact, according to a new poll.
In a February Data for Progress poll, 61% of probable voters in the state said they were in favor of approving key bills, compared with 26% who thought it was more important to “preserve traditional Senate rules and procedures like filibuster, ”although the answer differs markedly. across party lines. Seventy-six percent of Democrats thought approval of major legislation was more important, as did 66 percent of Independents, compared with just 42 percent of Republicans.
Currently, due to legislative obstruction, most bills require 60 votes to pass, allowing Senate Republicans to thwart key Democratic priorities including voting rights legislation, oversight measures guns and immigration reform. If Democrats were to eliminate filibuster, a position the full caucus – including Arizona Senator Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) – has yet to support, they could pass such bills with a simple simple majority, ie 51 votes. . (Democrats hold 50 votes in the evenly divided chamber, but if the caucus remains united, Vice President Kamala Harris can vote for them.)
These data indicate that the majority of likely Arizona voters would support a procedural change in the Senate if it were necessary to approve important legislation, an issue Democratic lawmakers will likely face later in this term as they will weigh in. on what to do, if any. about the filibuster.
Arizonans’ perspective on the issue is interesting given Sinema’s stated opposition to such changes so far: At the start of this term, she was one of two Democrats to publicly reaffirm her support for the preservation of filibuster, alongside Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). “She is not prepared to change her mind on eliminating the filibuster,” a spokesperson for Sinema told the Washington Post in January. And more recently, Sinema again stressed that she believes the practice is important in helping minority senators be heard.
“Whichever party controls the Senate, respecting the opinions of minority party senators will translate into better, common sense legislation,” Sinema wrote in a letter to a voter. “My position remains exactly the same now that I serve in the majority. While removing filibuster may result in short-term legislative gains, it would deepen partisan divisions and sacrifice the long-term health of our government.
This poll suggests, however, that most of his constituents may feel differently.
Likewise, he finds that 62% of all probable voters in Arizona support gradually increasing the state’s existing minimum wage from $ 11 to a federal standard of $ 15. Recently, Sinema voted against the annulment of the parliamentary Senate and the inclusion of a minimum wage increase in the budget reconciliation process. A minimum wage of $ 15 has the support of 89% of Democrats, 54% of Independents and 42% of Republicans in the state.
Sinema, in 2018, managed to achieve a very narrow victory in the state by bringing together a coalition of Democrats, Independents and Republicans, and presented himself as a person who defends bipartisanship. Based on this poll, it appears many of those voters would be in favor of procedural and policy changes she has yet to support.
The survey – which included 662 respondents – was conducted February 19-22 and has a margin of sampling error of 4 percentage points.
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