McCain calls bad poll number ‘bogus’

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called a poll that finds he has a 30 percent job approval in Arizona “bogus” on Monday. 

“There is a bogus poll out there,” McCain said on Fox Business’ “Cavuto.” “I can sense the people of my state. When I travel around, which I do constantly, they like me, and I am very grateful.” 

{mosads}McCain did not mention any poll by name, but a poll released last week by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-leaning group, found that McCain’s 30 percent approval in his home state was the lowest of any senator in the country. 

McCain mentioned the poll in the context of saying that he was “seriously considering” running for reelection in 2016, and will make a decision “early next year.”

Asked about running for president again, McCain said, “I’m afraid that it is not a viable option.” 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) last week called out McCain’s presidential run in 2008, saying “When you don’t stand and draw a clear distinction, you don’t stand for principal, Democrats celebrate.”

“Look, it’s all fair in politics and Senator Cruz, who I have a cordial relationship with, can say what he wants about me,” McCain responded in the interview on “Cavuto.”

Pressed on what “cordial” meant, McCain said, “We are friendly, we really are.”

However, he did get in some criticism of the speakers, who included Cruz, at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week.

“All of these people at the CPAC will claim that they are Reagan Republicans,” McCain said. “Did they forget that Ronald Reagan gave amnesty to three million Americans? Do they forget that he did raise taxes, that he made an agreement with Tip O’Neill on Social Security, that Ronald Reagan said [the] 11th commandment is you don’t speak ill of your fellow Republicans?”

In the theme of invoking these compromises, McCain also said raising taxes should be an on the table as part of entitlement reform.

“Look, you have to put everything on the table,” he said when asked if a package could include taxes. “If you don’t put everything on the table, then the opposite side says, ‘OK, but we’re not going to agree to, say, raising the retirement age.’ “