The Trump effect: Could Arizona go blue for the first time in 20 years?

[Zorro]

If there is one place where the dramas and subplots of Campaign 2016 collide, it is across the sprawling and scorching desert state of Arizona.

Here lives Donald Trump’s restive base of white voters unsettled by the country’s social transformation and fired up to dismantle Washington’s power structure. Here also lies the Democrats’ sleeping giant — an estimated 350,000 Latinos who are not registered to vote but who could mobilize against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee over his incendiary rhetoric.

Then there are the politicians. One senator, Jeff Flake (R), is a vocal Trump critic sounding the alarm about an electoral wipeout. The other, John McCain (R), ­alternates awkwardly between his maverick persona and a Trump apologist as he navigates an unexpectedly difficult reelection race. Also on the ballot is Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a Trump backer whose long crusade against undocumented immigrants makes him a lightning rod.

This leaves the Democrats — who have withered away as the state took a hard-right turn in the Obama era — sensing their best chance in two decades to turn Arizona and its 11 electoral votes blue. They think that Trump, who campaigned in Phoenix on Saturday, is energizing a new generation of Latino voters who haven’t participated in elections before.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-trump-effect-could-arizona-go-blue-for-the-first-time-in-20-years/2016/06/18/a1ffe53e-34aa-11e6-8758-d58e76e11b12_story.html

[Xipe Totec]

1. Blue Skies

[1StrongBlackMan]

2. I am just home from a local (Arizona) organizing event ...

we a stoked and working our asses off!

[brer cat]

8. Good for you, 1SBM!

I hope it pays off with pretty blue all over Arizona in November. How secure is your voting? I am in GA where republicans count the votes and it is by machine with no paper trail. It is whatever they say it is.

[1StrongBlackMan]

10. Thanks ...

How secure is your voting?

For the 20 years I have lived here, there was no issue with voting, even in the Mexican communities ... until this primary season.

[SCantiGOP]

3. Last sentence in your post, Zorro

That is the same way Obama won: energize new voters who haven't been involved before.
I think Texas and even Georgia may also come close to turning this year.

[Zorro]

4. Going after Jorge Ramos was a dumb thing for Trump to do

Both Ramos and Trump have motivated several generations of Hispanics to register to vote this election cycle.

[Doctor Jack]

5. A few more reports like this and Trump may have a mutiny on his hands

I've seen quite a few polls and articles about Trump collapsing in traditional red states. His numbers are horrendous in Alaska, Montana, Utah, Kansas, Arizona, and Georgia. All of those combined have more electoral votes than Texas, and make up about 1/4 of the electoral votes that McCain and Romney got. The only blue state that trump may have a slim, outside chance of flipping is Pennsylvania but even there he is down by about 5 points. He is hemorrhaging voters and I'm not sure the GOP is going to tolerate it much longer.

[SCantiGOP]

6. Four years ago,

You would have sounded insane to put Utah and Kansas on a list of states that could flip, but I've seen the data. Can't believe he could lose Utah, but the Mormons are not real keen on a lying, twice-divorced casino owner.

[Initech]

7. I keep thinking pigs are going to fly before that happens.

But then again I remember that Donald Trump is a pig and he flies, so...

[joshcryer]

9. Yes, and GA too.

[kentuck]

11. And John McCain be sent home?

That would be nice.