Two Republican governors tell the tale of which approach to the coronavirus is winning not only more support among constituents, but bipartisan support to boot. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who perhaps mounted the most aggressive effort of any Republican governor to protect his state with early shutdown orders, received 86% support from his constituents for his handling of the pandemic in a massive Washington Post-Ipsos poll of 12 states.
On the other end of the scale, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp—who both dragged his feet on closure and rushed to reopen his state despite failing to meet CDC guidelines—drew a bottom-of-the-barrel 39% support for his pandemic response in the 8,000-person survey. Kemp was also the only governor faring worse than Donald Trump, who drew 44% approval in the state for his coronavirus handling.
The disparity between the two governors also highlights a general truth from the survey: governors who have taken decisive action to minimize spread of the virus have also received much higher levels of bipartisan support from their constituents. Naturally, most of the governors who have been at the forefront of protecting public health in their states have been Democrats.
By and large, governors are getting high marks for their efforts, with 71% of Americans approving of their own governors' coronavirus handling, while Trump draws a much lower 43% approval for his bumbling response. The main difference in those marks is the extreme polarization regarding Trump's performance, with about 8 in 10 Republicans and GOP-leaners approving of Trump’s handling, while about 9 in 10 Democrats and Democratic-leaners disapprove of his response.
In contrast, Ohio's DeWine, for instance, does very well among both parties, drawing 84% support among Republicans and an even slightly higher 90% support among Democrats.
Likewise, large-state Democratic governors Gavin Newsom of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York both draw support from about 8 in 10 respondents, with Newsom's approval at 89% Democrats/58% Republicans and Cuomo's at 93% Democrats/58 % Republicans.
Meanwhile, governors of the two largest states run by Republicans—Florida's Ron DeSantis and Texas' Greg Abbott—don't fare as well overall precisely due to a partisan divide over their performance. Just 60% of Floridians support DeSantis' handling while 57% of Texans approve of Abbott's response. "While at least 8 in 10 Republicans in each of those states say they approve of the performance of their governor, fewer than 4 in 10 Democrats say the same," writes the Post.
The survey also declined to refer to governors by name, opting instead to ask respondents how they felt about the response of "your state's governor" in order to minimize partisan rancor.
Like nearly every other recent poll by reputable outfits, the Post/Ipsos poll found the vast majority of Americans, 74%, support keeping the country closed to slow the spread of disease. Only 25% say businesses should open even if that would widen the outbreak.
Here's the overall approval rankings by state. Ohio's DeWine is the only Republican governor to achieve high marks, while the other three GOP governors (Florida's DeSantis, Texas' Abbott, and Georgia's Kemp) round out the bottom three.
And by the way, Trump wants America to know that none of this would be possible without him!