The hoopla surrounding Governor McDonnell’s appointment of Fred Malek, his accidental omission of slavery in his Civil War proclamation, and the controversy surrounding his appointment of Bob Sledd to be Secretary of Commerce and Trade (among others) has generated a lot of negative media coverage for the Governor, some of which has even gone nationwide. This isn’t that extraordinary, given his rising star status within the GOP. What is surprising is that none of it has damaged his popularity. Internal polling has his approval rating at a healthy 63%, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported today.
This has got to be giving a lot of Democrats heartburn. The polling, done by Public Opinion Strategies, one of the top Republican polling firms, has the Governor at 63% approval with 30% disapproving. The polling was done June 13-15 and sampled 600 likely voters with a margin of error of +/- 4 points.
The “Bobs4Jobs” theme is still going strong, as 44% of those asked rated jobs and the state economy as their number one issues, followed by the state budget and taxes and education, neither of which gained more then 20%.
The same poll shows bad news for President Obama, with 50% of Virginians disapproving of the job he’s doing as President, and 47% approving. This mirrors some national polling, which has the President at 51% disapproval and 48% approval.
Despite the Democrats best efforts to jump on the Governor multiple times during his first few months in office, it’s clear that Virginia voters are more interested in bread and butter issues like the economy and jobs than they are about mini-scandals and proclamations.
I’m glad to see the Governor still going strong, and look forward to seeing his support elect a strong slate of Republican candidates next November.
Brian,
The President’s approval rating is even lower than the 48% reported by Rasmussen, who is always accused of having a Republican bias. According to today’s WSJ/NBC poll, his approval rating is down to 45% That puts him down into Jimmy Carter territory only 18 months into his first term.
It is important to note that the WSJ/NBC poll was taken before the containment cap on the BP oil spill was damaged and had to be removed. I suspect that the live video this afternoon of the renewed gusher would have pushed his approval rating down another point or two.
Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has announced his intent to use his “executive authority” to circumvent the US District Court ruling enjoining the Federal government from a blanket moratorium on deep water drilling. So much for Obama’s criticism of the Bush Administration not following “the rule of law.”
Glad to see HisRoc continue posting his “fair and balanced” non-partisan comments!
I understand that the Obama administration has already asked the the U. S. Court of Appeals for a stay of the local federal judge’s order. Also, I understand that Salazar is considering issuing revised rule iunder the APA (the law on which HisRoc has claimed to be an expert).
What a maroon!
By the way, is it true that HisRoc is/was a public relations adviser to General McChrystal?
Tommy,
What is a maroon? Also, define “iunder.”
I think that your typing skills deteriorate rapidly when your Depends needs changing.
HisRoc:
Glad to see that you actually can read and spell!
HisRoc: Maroon-brush up on your old Looney Tunes cartoons for the Tom’s usage of the word.
Brian: I’ve got an internal poll that has my approval rating at 100%. If the governor keeps telling lies like his “surplus” whopper, he may match me some day. Also, why does he care? Not like he car run again in Virginia anyway.
Kevin,
I’m sure that was exactly what Tommy meant.
Now, do you have a link for “iunder” smart ass?