PPP Survey: Jindal Is As Good As It Gets
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has endured a fair bit of sniping from both the left and the right in recent months and in the process has suffered the loss of some of his popularity. That said, a Public Policy Polling survey released this week on the end-of-year approval ratings of America’s governors still ranks Jindal as the most popular current governor in the country – or at least the most popular of the 30 governors whose approval PPP is tracking.
Jindal checks in at 58 percent approval with 34 percent disapproval, a number placing him second among governors surveyed by PPP. Tops in the poll is West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin, who with a 70-22 rating dwarfs the field. But Manchin won a special election in November and is now serving in the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Robert K. Byrd – so Jindal is ahead of the remaining governors.
Jindal’s +24 approval index is matched by Connecticut Republican Jodie Rell, whose numbers included a 55 percent approval to 31 percent disapproval margin. Montana Democrat Brian Schweitzer (55-33), Delaware Democrat Jark Markell (50-32) and Alaska Republican Sean Parnell (51-35) rounded out the top five.
The worst approval numbers in the PPP survey belong to California Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, who at 25-63 (-38) is an unmitigated failure. The same might be said of Bill Richardson (D-NM), who posted a 27-64 number, Jim Gibbons (R-NV), whose lousy state economy has him at 25-61, Maine Democrat John Baldacci (29-58), on whose watch Republicans have taken control of the state house, New York Democrat David Paterson, whose scandal-ridden administration was panned by a 30-55 count, and the disastrous Michigan Democrat Jennifer Granholm (34-57). Illinois Democrat Pat Quinn managed re-election despite a 32-54 rating, but outgoing Democrats Jim Doyle (36-56) in Wisconsin and Ed Rendell (34-53) in Pennsylvania didn’t have such luck managing their party’s fortunes last month.
Other notable governors displayed mixed ratings. Florida Independent Charlie Crist leaves office with a 50-39 rating, Virgini Republican Bob McDonnell is doing well at 44-36, Hawaii Republican Linda Lingle is slightly ahead of her detractors 46-45, Texas Republican Rick Perry and Massachusetts Democrat Deval Patrick are even at 45-45 and Minnesota Republican Tim Pawlenty, who’s trying to make himself a darkhorse presidential candidate, is struggling with a 43-53 mark.
PPP is a Democrat polling outfit, so when it says the average poll ratings of the nation’s governors based on the 30 surveyed are 42-45 and there’s no appreciable difference between Republicans (44-45) and Democrats (41-46) it might be best to take such numbers with a grain of salt. After all, 20 governors weren’t polled, including some popular figures like Chris Christie, Haley Barbour, Jan Brewer and Sonny Perdue on the GOP side.
In any event, while Jindal is suffering some slippage in his poll numbers he’s still in considerably better shape than most other governors.
The poll gave good enough news for Louisiana GOP chairman Roger Villere to brag on Jindal’s successes…
“Governor Jindal’s successful efforts to reform Louisiana’s ethics laws, cut taxes, and promote economic opportunity for our people are paying dividends,” said Villere. “As Louisiana heads toward our elections next fall Governor Jindal is in a strong position to secure another term where he can continue to build a better Louisiana for our children.”
Is this really serious?? “Governor Jindal’s successful efforts to reform Louisiana’s ethics laws, cut taxes, and promote economic opportunity for our people are paying dividends,” said Villere. – Ethics for everyone but him and his highly paid pals. Cutting taxes might work for states that actually have good economies. Piyuash wants no new taxes but has to cut $1.6 billion from the budget. Employment is still average at best and the few companies he has landed for the state are not hiring the large number needed to make a difference. He still thinks he has a chance to be re-elected, but the truth is one the wall. The people have seen what he promised and what he delivered, and his chances are very slim to none. He cant talk his way into office as he did the first time. We just wish the election was tomorrow just to get rid of him!
Perhaps the commenter might enlighten us as to who the instrument of Jindal’s electoral demise will be. One cannot lose an election without an opponent. If a challenger is coming, we sure haven’t seen one yet.
“Cutting taxes might work for states that actually have good economies” might be one of the most economically illiterate statements we’ve had on this site. By extension one supposes the commenter thinks that the remedy to a bad economy is, what? More taxes? More cowbell?
“Cutting taxes might work for states that actually have good economies.”
Making this into a plaque…. as soon as I stop laughing.
Jindal so far has not delivered on any of his promises. I voted for the man, but as of yet have not seen anything that impresses me. He spends way too much time promoting himself as a staunch conservative to the rest of the nation, and far too little time actually doing what he needs to for the state. Give me another viable conservative candidate (or even a moderate) to run against him and I’ll vote for that guy in a heartbeat.
Much to the contrary, Jindal has forwarded transparency, thru the Ethics Laws and by and large, allowed the Legislators to Legislate, unlike most of our previous “dictatorial” Governors. The only time he has stepped into the fray at the Capitol was on issues overwhealmingly supported by the public, but not by the Leges.
His out of state “promotions” have drawn a great deal of interest in Louisiana from Corporations interested in getting out of those very same States that are not “cutting taxes” during the Obama Depression. With our Unemployment numbers nowhere near those same States, despite Obama’s Moratorium and Salazars Permitorium, I don’t care what Jindal does as long as he keeps on doing it!!!
The trend in Jindal’s popularity is downward, and that is what is most significant.
Wrong. The the popularity of all elected officials trends downward once they have been in office for a while. It’s just the way it works. So what is really significant is that Jindal’s relative popularity. And it is high.