Politics
3 most popular US governors are Republicans in blue states
And Democratic governors continue to outperform Biden.
October 12, 2022 2:38pm
Updated: October 12, 2022 4:33pm
A new poll has found that the most popular governors in the United States are Republican elected in traditionally Democrat-led states.
The poll, conducted by the Morning Consult, found the most popular governors were Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker with a 74% approval rating, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott with 73% and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan at 70%. All three are rare GOP figureheads in states that tend to lean blue.
Only 8 of 50 governors in the survey scored less than 50% approval on their job performance, demonstrating the popularity of state leaders despite the national political climate.
“Most Americans still like their governors,” wrote Morning Consult senior reporter Eli Yokley in a tweet with a graphic of how all the governors ranked.
NEW: Most Americans still like their governors — only 8 have less than 50% approval ratings.
— Eli Yokley (@eyokley) October 11, 2022
Our latest quarterly ranking: https://t.co/6QGN1lcRRf pic.twitter.com/BiSBqPB5eb
In fact, the report found Democratic governors outperformed their standard bearer, President Joe Biden, since he took office in 2021.
“However, approval ratings are not the same as ballot tests and relatively popular governors can still lose races,” Yokley wrote in the article.
“While other polling conducted in Georgia, Florida, Maine, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin shows little gap between a governor’s approval rating and their standing against rivals, the contests look much closer in Kansas and Nevada than their governors’ job performance ratings would suggest.
There were also examples of red states warming up to Democratic governors. The approval rating of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, elected in 2019, rose from 55% last quarter to 59% on the back of positive reviews from the state’s Republican voters.
The two least popular state leaders in the survey are Govs. Kate Brown, D-Ore., and Doug Ducey, R-Ariz. with 56% and 49% disapproval ratings, respectively. Both face tough re-elections this year with Oregon potentially electing its first Republican to the governor’s office in forty years. v
