Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake pushed back Wednesday against a Fox News poll finding nearly half of respondents believe she is “too extreme.”
The poll, conducted along with Beacon Research and Shaw & Company, found 47% of respondents are concerned that Lake’s views are “too extreme,” while 42% hold the view about her opponent, Democrat Katie Hobbs. Over half of the participants, 51%, do not or only somewhat believe Lake is “too extreme.” The poll surveyed 1,003 randomly selected Arizona voters between Oct. 26-30 with a +/- 3% margin of error.
Lake told “The Faulkner Focus” she has a “bold plan to secure the border” by declaring the migrant crisis an “invasion” on the first day of her administration. The candidate intends to eliminate the state’s current grocery and rental tax to hand “half a billion dollars back to hardworking, tax-paying citizens.” She also plans to open opportunities for students to enter an education training or career certification program after 10th grade.
“I don’t know what’s extreme about that, and I don’t know what’s extreme about wanting to fully fund our police and make sure that all of our police departments are fully staffed,” Lake said. “These are not extreme ideas, that’s what the left has been saying, they’ve been putting dark money into attack ads, trying to paint me as an extremist, but when you listen to what I have to say, my ideas are very common-sense, they are not extreme.”
Lake and Hobbs have painted one another as “extreme” on the campaign trail, particularly relating to the issue of abortion. During an Oct. 9 segment of “Face the Nation,” Hobbs accused Lake of being “extreme” for supporting an 1864 state abortion law and claiming Lake referred to women who seek abortions as “murderers” and “executioners.” (RELATED: Kari Lake Leads Dem Opponent By 11 Points)
Lake similarly accused Hobbs of supporting abortion up to birth, and vowed to uphold the abortion law once the state legislature decides on state abortion law.
Hobbs has also targeted Lake for her claims that the 2020 presidential election was “stolen” by President Joe Biden. During an MSNBC interview in October, she called Lake a “dangerous” election denier.
Recent polls find Lake and Hobbs standing neck-and-neck in the tight Arizona gubernatorial race. Lake is currently leading against Hobbs by 2.8 points, or 48.4%-45.6%, according to RealClearPolitics.