Question:
Why is Hillary under-performing in Colorado and over-performing in Arizona?
My only guess would be due to the higher number of Latinos in Arizona than Colorado. She carried Arizona in the primaries but lost Colorado (granted CO was a caucus state and AZ was a primary, but that's another issue). Also, I think Colorado has more of the latte white elitist liberals in the Denver suburbs and Boulder. I reckon Arizona doesn't have many of these. I think the Phoenix suburbs are much more conservative than the Denver ones as well. Age could also be a factor. I think Arizona has more seniors than Colorado. Arizona also has a higher Native American population than Colorado, although the amount of influence they wield in Arizona politics is unknown to me. One could also argue that she's doing better in Arizona and worse in Colorado due to backlash from each of the state's dominant parties. Maybe Arizona voters are getting tired of the far right-wing extremist policies pushed by the GOP legislature that have made Arizona a laughingstock to the rest of the country (SB 1070/immigration and the most recent discriminate against the gays bill that even went too far for nutter Brewer). I'd reckon Arizona voters are probably getting tired of the national media painting them as a bunch of racist xenophobic and homophobic bigots. As for Colorado, the backlash could also be from Democratic overreach with regards to gun control and pot legalization (yes, I realize pot was on the ballot that the voters approved, but Democrats are in power now and maybe more people aren't too thrilled about it being legal and so they blame it on the party that it's control). The recall of two Democratic state senators because of the gun control vote could also explain it. Just my opinion.
