The new
SUSA 50-state Governor Approval ratings for April are out.
This diary includes a table showing last month's net approval vs. this month's net approval, and a discussion about the biggest gainers and losers. Check the flip - how's your governor doing this month?
# | State | Governor | D/R | 2004 vote | Apr | Mar | Change |
1 | Wisconsin | Doyle, Jim | D | Kerry | 12% | -4% | 16% |
2 | Montana | Schweitzer, Brian | D | Bush | 56% | 42% | 14% |
3 | Georgia | Perdue, Sonny | R | Bush | 25% | 12% | 13% |
4 | Massachusetts | Romney, Mitt | R | Kerry | 2% | -10% | 12% |
5 | Kentucky | Fletcher, Ernie | R | Bush | -19% | -28% | 9% |
6 | Nevada | Guinn, Kenny | R | Bush | 31% | 22% | 9% |
7 | Utah | Huntsman, Jon | R | Bush | 60% | 51% | 9% |
8 | Pennsylvania | Rendell, Edward | D | Kerry | 10% | 3% | 7% |
9 | Illinois | Blagojevich, Rod | D | Kerry | -2% | -8% | 6% |
10 | Arizona | Napolitano, Janet | D | Bush | 26% | 22% | 4% |
11 | Delaware | Minner, Ruth | D | Kerry | -7% | -11% | 4% |
12 | New Hampshire | Lynch, John | D | Kerry | 42% | 38% | 4% |
13 | South Dakota | Rounds, Mike | R | Bush | 24% | 20% | 4% |
14 | Vermont | Douglas, Jim | R | Kerry | 31% | 27% | 4% |
15 | Mississippi | Barbour, Haley | R | Bush | 13% | 10% | 3% |
16 | Washington | Gregoire, Christine | D | Kerry | 4% | 1% | 3% |
17 | Louisiana | Blanco, Kathleen | D | Bush | -26% | -29% | 3% |
18 | Rhode Island | Carcieri, Don | R | Kerry | 8% | 6% | 2% |
19 | New York | Pataki, George | R | Kerry | -2% | -4% | 2% |
20 | Arkansas | Huckabee, Mike | R | Bush | 21% | 19% | 2% |
21 | Virginia | Kaine, Tim | D | Bush | 22% | 20% | 2% |
22 | Oklahoma | Henry, Brad | D | Bush | 41% | 39% | 2% |
23 | West Virginia | Manchin, Joe | D | Bush | 57% | 55% | 2% |
24 | Alaska | Murkowski, Frank | R | Bush | -35% | -36% | 1% |
25 | Ohio | Taft, Bob | R | Bush | -59% | -60% | 1% |
26 | Texas | Perry, Rick | R | Bush | 2% | 1% | 1% |
27 | Hawaii | Lingle, Linda | R | Kerry | 28% | 28% | 0% |
28 | New Mexico | Richardson, Bill | D | Bush | 23% | 23% | 0% |
29 | Tennessee | Bredesen, Phil | D | Bush | 18% | 18% | 0% |
30 | Wyoming | Freudenthal, Dave | D | Bush | 44% | 44% | 0% |
31 | Maryland | Ehrlich, Robert | R | Kerry | 3% | 4% | -1% |
32 | California | Schwarzenegger, Arnold | R | Kerry | -26% | -25% | -1% |
33 | Maine | Baldacci, John | D | Kerry | -17% | -16% | -1% |
34 | Connecticut | Rell, Jodi | R | Kerry | 54% | 56% | -2% |
35 | Kansas | Sebelius, Kathleen | D | Bush | 24% | 26% | -2% |
36 | Florida | Bush, Jeb | R | Bush | 14% | 17% | -3% |
37 | Missouri | Blunt, Matt | R | Bush | -22% | -19% | -3% |
38 | North Dakota | Hoeven, John | R | Bush | 55% | 59% | -4% |
39 | Oregon | Kulongoski, Ted | D | Kerry | -24% | -20% | -4% |
40 | South Carolina | Sanford, Mark | R | Bush | 8% | 12% | -4% |
41 | Alabama | Riley, Bob | R | Bush | 9% | 13% | -4% |
42 | Minnesota | Pawlenty, Tim | R | Kerry | 10% | 14% | -4% |
43 | Nebraska | Heineman, Dave | R | Bush | 41% | 45% | -4% |
44 | Idaho | Kempthorne, Dirk | R | Bush | 24% | 29% | -5% |
45 | Iowa | Vilsack, Tom | D | Bush | 16% | 23% | -7% |
46 | Michigan | Granholm, Jennifer | D | Kerry | -17% | -7% | -10% |
47 | North Carolina | Easley, Michael | D | Bush | 9% | 19% | -10% |
48 | Indiana | Daniels, Mitch | R | Bush | -26% | -14% | -12% |
49 | Colorado | Owens, Bill | R | Bush | 5% | 17% | -12% |
50 | New Jersey | Corzine, Jon | D | Kerry | -20% | 15% | -35% |
Big Winners:
1. Jim Doyle, Wisconsin - Doyle gains 16%, moving from -4% to +12% (52% approve). This is great news, as Doyle has been targeted as a vulnerable incumbent this cycle. Doyle breaks the 50% waterline for the first time in the past year.
2. Brian Schweitzer, Montana - Things keep getting better for this popular red state Democrat, who rises to 3rd most popular governor overall. A 14% gain brings him to a stratospheric 74% approval rating, his best number in the past 12 months. That should be bad news to Conrad Burns - a very popular governor speaks against him, while a rather unpopular president speaks for him.
3. Sonny Purdue, Georgia - His 13% gain puts him at 59% approval, bouncing back from last month's drop and putting him back at roughly the level he's been at since December. Our chances of taking back the governorship of Georgia are not looking too great.
4. Mitt Romney, Massachusetts - Gains 12%, probably thanks to the recent Health Care compromise he ushered through. This reverses a 5 month slide and puts him back at about where he was in January. Good news for Lt. Gov Kerry's Healy's bid to extend GOP domination of the MA governorship, and also good news for Romney's 2008 presidential bid. Not good news for us.
Big Losers:
1. John Corzine, New Jersey - A whopping 35% loss (36% approval). His tax proposals are very unpopular, it seems. Fixing NJ's budget woes is going to a rough and rocky road, and I'm worried that it could hurt Menendez's Senate election bid, a top GOP takeover target in 2006.
2. Bill Owens, Colorado - 12% drop for the retiring governor that puts him at his second lowest level for the past 12 months. This could boost our chances of taking the open race for Governor this year, which the lastest Rasmussen numbers show to be a statistical dead heat.
3. Mitch Daniels, Indiana - By far the worst numbers in the past 12 months, Daniels slides 12% to become tied for 3rd most despised governor. Why does Indiana hate Daylight Savings Time so much? This looks like a conflict between rural conservatives and business interests; I don't know whether this will improve our chances to unseat GOP reps in IN-08 and IN-09, but it certainly won't touch Dick Lugar's unopposed Senate re-election. Daniels won't face re-election until 2008.
Good news in brief: Rendell (D-PA) +7, Blagojevich (D-IL) +6
Bad news in brief: Granholm (D-MI) -10, Vilsak (D-IA) -7, Guinn (R-NV) +9
Top net approval:
1. Huntsman (R-UT) 60%
2. Manchin (D-WV) 57%
3. Schweitzer (D-MT) 56%
4. Hoeven (R-ND) 55%
5. Rell (R-CT) 54%
Bottom net approval:
50. Taft (R-OH) -59%
49. Murkowski (R-AK) -35%
48. Blanco (D-LA) -26%
48. Daniels (R-IN) -26%
48. Schwartzenegger (R-CA) -26&%
Alaska watch: Here's the lastest in wide-open Alaska governor race. Still no decision from Murkowski or Knowles.