Did tens of thousands of Arizonans vote for Ruben Gallego but not for Kamala Harris?
U.S. Senator-elect Ruben Gallego, an Arizona democrat, received around 100,000 more votes than democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The gap in support for Harris indicates that some Gallego voters opted not to vote in the presidential contest, or supported a candidate from a different party.
Split-ticket voting, when voters support different parties in different races, and undervoting, when voters leave some races on their ballot blank, happens in every election. This is especially true in Arizona, where more than one third of registered voters indicate no party preference. Wins for Gallego and President-elect Donald Trump in Arizona reflect what most polls predicted ahead of the election.
Post-election data has shown that Trump received an increase in support from Latino voters in this election, a group which makes up 25% of Arizona’s electorate and has also demonstrated support for Gallego, the state’s first Latino U.S. senator-elect.
