Arizona Voters’ Agenda: Voters Care Deeply About Water and Arizona’s Long-term Drought

Very few things in politics achieve unanimous support, but in Arizona, the issues of addressing Arizona’s water future and tackling drought come very close. Today, Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA) released their survey findings regarding water as part of the Arizona Voters’ Agenda, which identifies what likely voters in the general election want candidates to address as they campaign for their votes.

The survey revealed that more than 90% of all likely voters came to broad consensus on the need to address Arizona’s water future – an issue that very few candidates are talking about. The survey found that voters support efforts to preserve and protect Arizona's rivers, natural areas, and wildlife. They also firmly want to secure Arizona's water future and address the state’s long-term drought.

“Arizona’s water challenges have been front page news for months,” said Dr. Sybil Francis, President & CEO of CFA. “Despite its obvious importance to voters, we haven’t heard much from the candidates about their ideas for how to secure Arizona’s water future. Our survey indicates that voters overwhelmingly care about water—candidates would be wise to start paying attention.”

According to the Arizona Voters’ Agenda, a whopping 96% of likely voters support “Preserving and protecting Arizona's rivers, natural areas, and wildlife,” including 93% Republican support, 95% independents/unaffiliated support, and 99% Democratic support. The notion of “Securing Arizona's water future and addressing our long-term drought” was a close second with 95% support, including 94% Republican support, 93% independents/unaffiliated support, and 98% Democratic support.

“Unlike some of the topics that seem to dominate our political dialogue, these are not fringe issues or concerns that only appeal to a certain segment of the electorate,” explained Dr. Francis, “Virtually all voters are concerned about Arizona’s water future. It’s certainly a complex topic, but these data show that candidates can win voters by talking about their plans for water.”

Voters’ concern for water is real and they want to hear what candidates plan to do about it. In all, 94% of likely voters agreed with the following statement, “The drought only continues to worsen. It has increased the intensity of our fire season and forced a declaration of water shortage on Lake Mead. We need to do something to protect our water future and secure our long-term water supplies.” Support included 89% of Republicans, 98% of independent/unaffiliated voters, and 99% of Democrats.

Voters also saw the connection between water, environmental sustainability, and Arizona’s quality of life. A total of 90% of all likely voters agreed with the notion, “We must support sustainable practices that protect our air, land, and water, and foster a high quality of life for all.” This included agreement from 80% of Republicans, 93% of independent/unaffiliated voters, and 100% of Democrats.

Along with a handful of the education issues that were previously released, the water issues on the Arizona Voters’ Agenda earned some of the highest amounts of support from independent and unaffiliated voters.

“More than a quarter of likely voters and nearly a third of registered voters have chosen to be an independent or not affiliate with a major party. Most candidates cannot succeed without their support,” said Dr. Francis. “This is not a monolithic group, but clearly, they care about water. It is one of their top issues. Why are so few people talking about it?"

When it comes to water, the Arizona Voters’ Agenda points to essential questions for moderators, citizens, voters, and others to ask candidates as they are competing for votes. Begin with at least one big question based on the data showing where Arizonans have the strong agreement: “What should Arizona do to protect our water future and secure our long-term water supplies?”

About the Arizona Voters’ Agenda
CFA is focused on bringing Arizonans together around a positive agenda based on where they agree on priorities to move the state forward and realize The Arizona We Want. The Arizona Voters’ Agenda was launched as an extension of CFA’s survey research efforts to identify and create The Arizona We Want.

CFA has analyzed the statewide survey data to determine which issues make the cut for the Arizona Voters’ Agenda based on:

• a primary threshold, the number of likely voters that “strongly agree/support” is 50% and above,
• and a second threshold of the sum of “somewhat agree/support” and “strongly agree/support” (i.e., Total Support/Agree) is 50% and above among every political party (Republican, Independent/Undecided/Other, and Democrat) and age group (20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-64, 65+).

The Arizona Voters’ Agenda – Water

Political and age group breakdowns are available at ArizonaFuture.org/ArizonaVotersAgenda.

About the Survey
The N=500 survey was conducted among likely voters from April 12 through 19, 2022. The poll surveyed likely Arizona 2022 General Election voters who have a history of electoral participation and was balanced to model the likely turnout of voters across party, age, region, and gender. The live interview survey of voters was conducted in English and Spanish by HighGround Public Affairs to landline and cell phone users. Based on previous midterm election trends, the partisan advantage was set at +8% GOP. The margin of error is ±4.3%.

Survey Demographics

The Arizona Voters’ Agenda initiative is supported in part by Arizona Community Foundation, Helios Education Foundation, Pharos Foundation, Rodel Foundation of Arizona, Thomas R. Brown Family Foundation, and Southern Arizona Leadership Council. CFA also coordinated with Education Forward Arizona, who conducted an additional poll to gain deeper insights into likely Arizona voters’ priorities on education. The findings are available at educationforwardarizona.org.

About Center for the Future of Arizona
Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that brings Arizonans together to create a stronger and brighter future for our state. All of CFA’s work is to ensure that the public values Arizonans share are realized for all by shaping and advancing The Arizona We Want–a shared vision of success where all Arizonans, now and in the future, thrive and enjoy sustained prosperity, unmatched quality of life, and real opportunity. Learn more at arizonafuture.org.