Also keep in mind that AZ had the 2nd biggest increase in votes from 2012, next to Texas. This seems to indicate there was a big increase in liberals moving to AZ and so this vote shift will be permanent.
Similar problem in TX, but the GOP is still so far ahead in TX that swinging that state to the Dems is still a distant threat at best.
Oh, and I live here in AZ. It’s not just Californians. They came in the 1990s, but largely that flood is done. Increasingly, I see older people from the midwest: IN, MO, OH, PA, MI, WI. I don’t think these people are nearly as liberal as the CA wave.
Sorry, just not that worried about AZ. Never have been. They are not all libs, probably not even a majority libs. The lib wave is largely over.
Maybe the fact the Feds effectively blocked these states from verifying citizenship of new voter registration had something to do with these states being closer than they were in 2012? Maybe more illegals and non citizens were able to get on the voter rolls and cast ballots than 4 years ago.
Also, there may have been a lot of NeverTrump Mormons in AZ who voted for McMuffin of abstained from voting for President. I believe there is a large population of Mormons in Northern Arizona. In Texas, he might have done better had the Bushes backed him. Believe the Bush family is still popular in Texas.