What Arizonans Want from Candidates and Leaders Heading Into the 2024 Election

As the 2024 general election approaches, Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA) today released the key takeaways from its latest 2024 Arizona Voters' Agenda survey, offering a comprehensive look at what voters expect from candidates and leaders as they prepare to begin early voting, mail in their ballots, and head to the polls. Arizona voters are clear: they want leadership focused on solutions and long-term planning that works across divides to build a brighter future for the state. The findings highlight the common ground across the electorate and offer a roadmap for candidates to engage voters and foster progress.

“Arizona voters are looking for leadership that can bridge divides and deliver results,” said Dr. Sybil Francis, Chair, President & CEO of CFA. “They want to know how their leaders will address the issues they care about, with concrete plans for Arizona’s future.”

The 2024 Arizona Voters' Agenda, developed by CFA based on two comprehensive surveys conducted in collaboration with HighGround, Inc., highlights policy priorities and voter sentiment. Each election cycle, CFA analyzes the results of these surveys to determine the issues that surpass rigorous thresholds for agreement across political and generational lines, which are central to the Voters’ Agenda. Along with insights into voters’ outlooks and perceptions, these data illuminate how to align political discourse with the majority of the electorate.

What Voters Want: Leadership and Solutions
The 2024 Arizona Voters' Agenda surveys show that voters prioritize leaders who focus on plans and solutions over conflict. When selecting a candidate, 65% of voters continue to believe a candidate’s position on critical issues or clear plans and solutions matter most, consistent with findings in the 2022 elections. Voters also desire bipartisan cooperation, with 91% of voters concerned about partisanship and divisiveness in politics and 62% preferring candidates willing to work across the aisle.

Additional findings highlight an electorate that wants candidates and leaders to better address their priorities:

• More than half of voters (56%) do not believe elected leaders represent their interests.
• 60% do not believe current candidates for office are talking about the issues important to them.

Voters Identify Long-Term Planning as a Must for Arizona’s Future
Voters are not just focused on immediate concerns—they want candidates who can plan for Arizona’s long-term future. The data show that voters expect leaders to prioritize strategic foresight in areas such as infrastructure, budgeting, and disaster preparedness.

• 52% of voters are not confident Arizona is prepared for future growth.
• 70% do not believe Arizona is ready for a major emergency, weather crisis, or pandemic.
• 88% believe, “Arizona’s short-term budget planning creates a lot of uncertainty – often alternating between budget shortfalls and cuts one year and surpluses and spending the next. For Arizona to live up to its potential as a great place to live, we need a long-term investment strategy based on stable revenue and better planning.”
• 81% agree, “We need to explore ways to expand revenue sources to ensure the state’s long-term growth and success.”

As Arizona faces population growth and increasing challenges, 87% of voters support the view that “It will take higher levels of planning and preparedness to ensure we have the resources and infrastructure to support growth and maintain our high quality of life.”

Arizona Voters Agree and Want Action on Key Issues
Voters are urging leaders to put partisanship aside and focus on common ground that reflects the true priorities of the majority. Candidates have a significant opportunity to align their leadership, plans, and solutions with what voters care about, such as:

• Education and Economic Opportunity – Education remains a top priority for Arizona voters, with 85% supporting increased access to post-secondary education, 77% favoring increased financial aid for public higher education, and 79% calling for prioritizing investments in public universities and community colleges. Voters view education as a critical driver of Arizona’s long-term success, and they are seeking focused plans from leaders to expand educational opportunities and fuel economic growth through a highly educated and skilled population.
• Water – 93% of voters agree that more needs to be done to protect groundwater and secure Arizona’s water supply for the future. Despite its importance, 67% of voters do not believe the state’s current water policies are sufficient to ensure long-term sustainability, indicating that the issue is not being addressed to the level that voters feel is necessary or proportional to their concerns.
• Immigration – While often portrayed as a divisive topic, voters across party lines show strong support for practical solutions to immigration issues. 77% of voters favor comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship, and 82% believe leaders must work together to address the humanitarian and refugee crisis at the southern border with bipartisan solutions.

“Arizona voters are calling for leadership that engages meaningfully with their concerns and focuses on progress, not political rhetoric,” added Dr. Francis. “The data from the Arizona Voters’ Agenda provide a way to deliver the substantive leadership that Arizona voters are seeking.”

Critical Questions for Candidates
The Arizona Voters' Agenda points to critical questions for candidates to address in the final weeks of the election cycle, such as:

• How will you implement strategic planning to ensure Arizona’s long-term sustainability and prepare for future growth?
• How will you balance leadership on politically polarized issues like immigration while ensuring collaboration on shared priorities?
• What steps will you take to engage voters and ensure you are responsive to the majority of constituents while actively seeking input to guide your leadership?

Find the entire 2024 Arizona Voters’ Agenda, more questions for candidates, and additional communications resources at arizonafuture.org/ava.

About the Arizona Voters’ Agenda
CFA develops the Arizona Voters’ Agenda to ensure that voters’ voices are at the forefront of the election, encouraging candidates and the media to focus on the issues where Arizonans agree. By providing trusted data on shared public priorities, CFA aims to foster constructive conversations about Arizona’s future and drive meaningful progress on the issues that matter most to the state’s residents.

For a policy priority to be included in the Voters’ Agenda, a majority of likely voters must show “strong” support for an issue, and majorities of every political and age segment must show “strong” or “somewhat strong” support. This ensures the Voters’ Agenda reflects true majority agreement across political and generational lines, with a threshold of 50% or above. Not all survey questions achieve this threshold. The surveys also include questions that provide essential context and insights into voter perceptions.

Survey Methodology
The Arizona Voters’ Agenda is based on two public opinion surveys each election cycle. The second and most recent survey was conducted from August 5-13, 2024, ahead of the general election. The first survey was conducted in March 2024, before the primary election. Each survey sampled 500 likely Arizona 2024 General Election voters with a history of electoral participation, balanced to model the likely turnout of voters across party, age, region, and gender. HighGround, Inc. conducted live interview surveys in English and Spanish to landline and cell phone users. Based on previous election trends, the partisan advantage was set at +4% GOP. The margin of error is ±4.3%.

About Center for the Future of Arizona
Center for the Future of Arizona (CFA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan "do-tank" that brings Arizonans together to create a stronger and brighter future for our state. Through its survey research & communications, Arizona Progress Meters, and impact initiatives & programs in education, workforce, and civic health, CFA listens to Arizonans to learn what matters most to them, shares trusted data about how Arizona is doing in those priority areas, brings critical issues to public attention, and works with communities and leaders to solve public problems. The Arizona Voters’ Agenda is part of CFA's ongoing commitment to highlighting Arizona’s shared public values and bringing Arizonans together around a positive agenda based on where we agree on priorities to move the state forward and realize The Arizona We Want.

The 2024 Arizona Voters’ Agenda initiative is supported in part by Arizona Community Foundation, Helios Education Foundation, Pivotal Foundation, Southern Arizona Leadership Council, and Thomas R. Brown Family Private Foundation.

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