The Morning Consult Political Intelligence quarterly tracking on the popularity of America’s governors is another bad news report for Democrats who are already widely believed to be facing a coming shellacking in the November midterms.
According to the results, the top 11 most popular governors are Republicans, and 12 of the top 15 are GOP governors. And while most will be excused if they never heard of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, the most popular governor in America according to Morning Consult, he leads a blue state, as do the next two GOP governors on the list, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. Baker announced last year that he would not be running for reelection.
The first Democrat to appear in the findings, in the 12th position, is Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
Andy Beshear is the most popular Democratic Governor in America according to a new poll with a 59% approval rating in Kentucky pic.twitter.com/Tem3thDn4F
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) April 28, 2022
Interestingly, the most talked-about governor in America, Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis is mired somewhere in the middle, even trailing California Gov. Gavin Newsom — then again, when considering the relentless negative and seemingly dishonest reporting from the media, both at the state and national level, it could be argued that DeSantis’ overall popularity keeps him from coming in dead last — an achievement reserved for a Democrat.
Then again, the Morning Consult survey represented a sample of “at least 601 registered voters in each state” between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2022, which came before the clash between DeSantis and Disney over the “family entertainment” giant’s opposition to a bill banning sexual instruction in the classroom for K-3 students.
Seven of the 10 least popular governors are Democrats, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, who brings up the rear as the nation’s least popular governor.
Overall, there are 28 Republican governors in America, with an average 58 percent approval rating, compared to 22 Democratic governors, who average 51 percent approval.
Morning Consult, which bills itself as “a global decision intelligence company,” noted that for Democrats up for reelection in 2022, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and New Mexico governors have the weakest job approval ratings.
“Across the country, all but eight governors are backed by 50% or more of their state’s voters. And in nearly all cases, the Democrats among them are getting higher approval ratings than Biden, while more often than not drawing more cross-party support than the president and Democratic senators,” Morning Consult’s Eli Yokley wrote. “But when considering each state, the average GOP governor has a higher approval rating than the average Democratic governor (58% to 51%), boosted by the popularity of a handful of blue-state Republicans.”
Polling companies don’t have much of a track record of late for accuracy and, as might be expected, there was plenty of skepticism over the results.
Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:
This poll is highly suspect. There’s no way 74% of people in MA approve of a R governor. Or 72% approving of a R governor in Bernie Sanders home state. I think this poll was conducted on April 1.
— Greg Taylor (@Gregtaylorlaw) April 28, 2022
Judging by the amount of boo’s he got at the Wku vs Ky game there’s no way this is accurate.
— Mason Askren (@Maskren24) April 28, 2022
Only 8 of 50 governors had an approval rating below 50%. The worst at 41%. 31 of the 50 were between 50% and 59%. Pretty much a flattish bell curve. Not sure how meaningful this is so far from an actual ballot.
— Paul Kieckhefer (@pkieckheferinky) April 28, 2022
As evidenced by this thread, what is the point of polling if nobody believes the poll?
— OldRzaGza (@OlRzaGza) April 28, 2022
And Hillary had a 98% chance of winning…so said polls. https://t.co/R0TvFs4Ozt
— JJ Mercer (@JJMercer3) April 28, 2022
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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