Kentucky’s gubernatorial election is coming up this November, and the deadline for potential candidates to file the necessary paperwork passed last week. (You can see the list of candidates at the Secretary of State’s site.) The GOP primary is starting as a 12-person ship of fools that would make Plato say, “yup, that’s exactly what I meant”, while incumbent Democratic Governor Andy Beshear faces two primary challengers: former Republican Peppy Martin and perennial gadfly Geoff Young. (I’m not particularly interested in giving either Martin or Young any oxygen in this story, but feel free to ask/expound about them in the comments.)
Well, Beshear just picked up a great bit of news with which to start his re-election campaign. According to Morning Consult’s latest polling, he’s one of the 10 most popular Governors in the nation and THE most popular Democratic Governor:
Six in 10 Kentucky voters approve of Beshear’s job performance while 34% disapprove, according to data collected Oct. 1-Dec. 31. The figures — which make him the nation’s most popular Democratic governor — are generally in line with Beshear’s standing throughout Joe Biden’s presidency, two years which took a toll on other red-state Democrats such as Govs. Laura Kelly of Kansas and John Bel Edwards of Louisiana.
Governor Beshear came in at #8 in Morning Consult’s most-popular list; the only other Democrat to make the top 10 was Connecticut’s Ned Lamont. Here’s the top 10 list with approve/disapprove results:
- Phil Scott (R-VT) — 81/14
- Mark Gordon (R-WY) — 77/20
- Charlie Baker (R-MA) — 73/20
- Larry Hogan (R-MD) — 71/21
- Jim Justice (R-WV) — 64/31
- Bill Lee (R-TN) — 61/30
- Doug Bergum (R-ND) — 60/26
- Andy Beshear (D-KY) — 60/34
- Kay Ivey (R-AL) — 60/34
- Ned Lamont (D-CT) — 60/35
While Beshear enjoys overwhelming approval from Kentucky’s Democrats, he also picked up approval from 49% of Kentucky’s independents...and 46% support from Kentucky Republicans! The latter result makes Beshear the nation’s most popular governor with members of the opposition party. I did NOT see that coming...
Depending upon which Republican emerges from the 12-way train wreck of the GOP primary, Beshear’s re-election may be more likely than many have suspected. Here’s hoping...