Hopi Voters’ Take on Midterm Election
November 11, 2022
As a follow up story to Voter Turnout on the Hopi Nation, our team has completed the survey of voters and are excited to share the results with our readers. At the time of publication, the most watched races in Arizona were too close to call, as were other races across the country which would ultimately determine control of the US House and Senate. Arizona is a battleground state in this midterm election, and we expected a greater voter turnout on the Hopi Nation.
Almost shocking but predicted, many residents of the Hopi Nation did not participate in this election, for reasons we are not going to cover in this particular article. Our staff members were unable to get a response from tribal members who have just become eligible to vote. A more extensive survey into Hopi voting habits to include reasons they do not participate is needed and may help uncover valuable
information not only for those wishing to run in the local elections, but also for national elections. Since historically, candidates fail to campaign on the Hopi Nation, and this seems may be part of the reason Hopi voters do not participate in the process.
In our survey, we posed five questions to everyone,
- Are you a registered Democrat, independent, or Republican?
- Has the pandemic changed the way you vote? If so, please elaborate if you will.
- Has inflation at an all-time high affected the way you vote? If so please elaborate if you will.
- Does the lack of businesses on the Hopi reservation impact the way you vote?
- Please share any information you would like to be included in the article for the 2022 midterm elections.
Of those who participated in the survey, a third were registered Democrats, a third were registered Independents, and a third were registered Republicans. A statistic we did not anticipate but were happy to see, as it represents a healthy distribution of views for the Hopi electorate. Also surprising was that the pandemic did not have an effect on the way they voted, and they continued to vote as they did prior. Inflation, however, did affect the way half of the electorate voted and it was noted that Hopi has a number of Republican in position which may be a reason for infighting and difficulty bringing change. Finally, the lack of businesses on the Hopi reservation did not have an effect on how the respondents voted.
