Republicans appear to be abandoning Donald Trump’s ally Kari Lake in the much-anticipated Arizona senate race.
New polling shows that Ms Lake, a key Trump backer in the state, has been unable to win over 17 per cent of voters who intend to support the former president in November.
These voters instead look set to split their ticket and vote for her Democrat challenger.
The rise of moderate and sceptical Republicans splitting their ticket in Arizona threatens Ms Lake’s campaign, in which she is running to replace the incumbent independent senator Kyrsten Sinema.
The Democratic candidate, Ruben Gallego, is more than ten point ahead of Ms Lake in the latest poll, conducted for Fox News.
Ruben Gallego at a rally in Arizona – AP/Ross D Franklin
Ticket splitting was once commonplace among both moderate Republican and Democrat voters, but is becoming increasingly rare amid greater polarisation between the two parties.
However, the Arizona race looks likely to be decided by those moderate voters, many of whom are unsettled by Ms Lake’s decision to deny the result of the 2020 governor race she lost to the Democrat Katie Hobbs.
The Fox poll shows 56 per cent of voters are intending to vote for Mr Gallego, compared with 42 who