Snyder Still Has One of Lowest Job Ratings Among Nation's Governors

By Cameron Easley
Morning Consult
October 31, 2017

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is tied for fourth-lowest job rating among the nation’s 50 governors, according to a just-released national survey.

Snyder is one of only 10 governors whose ratings are “under water,” meaning they are more unfavorable than favorable — 37% of Michiganders approve of the job Snyder is doing, but 50% disapprove, with some 13% undecided, refusing to answer or claiming they don’t know.

Still, that’s an improvement for the Republican governor. For most of the past two years, Snyder has had ratings as low as the 33% approve/61% disapprove he experienced in the spring of last year.

Elsewhere, Republican governors are doing well. The top 10 most popular are all Republicans, led by Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Larry Hogan, who preside over strongly Democratic states. On the other hand, the most unpopular governor in the entire country is Republican Chris Christie of New Jersey, who lags in at 18% approve/77% disapprove, with the rest U/RtA/DK.

The latest installment of Morning Consult’s Governor Approval Rankings — a survey of more than 255,000 registered voters nationwide conducted online from July 1 to Sept. 30 — features a shuffling at the top and bottom, along with a debutant on the list and a new entrant in the highest ranks. Margins of error vary by state; see table below. Full methodology available here.

Most Popular:

Charlie Baker (R-MA)

69% 17%

2

Larry Hogan (R-MD)

66% 18%
3

Asa Hutchinson (R-AR)

63% 19%
4

Kay Ivey (R-AL)

62% 12%
5

Doug Burgum (R-ND)

62% 17%
6

Brian Sandoval (R-NV)

61% 21%
7

Phil Scott (R-VT)

60% 21%
8

Chris Sununu (R-NH)

59% 22%
9

Matt Mead (R-WY)

59% 23%
10

Dennis Daugaard (R-SD)

59% 25%

A new name in top 10

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu makes his debut in the top 10, joining nine other Republicans as the most popular governors in the country. Govs. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Larry Hogan of Maryland, two Republicans in deep blue states, remain entrenched at the top of the rankings ahead of their 2018 re-election bids. Meanwhile, Govs. Phil Scott of Vermont and Brian Sandoval of Nevada, also in the top 10, round out the coterie of most popular Republicans who are leading states carried by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election.

Christie plumbs new depths

With just a few months left in office, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) retains his spot at the bottom of the rankings, with 77 percent of Garden State voters disapproving of his job performance — a record low since Morning Consult began tracking public sentiment on governors in 2016. Two other governors, Kansas’ Sam Brownback (R) and Connecticut’s Dan Malloy (D), have cracked the 70s on disapproval before — and aren’t expected to be in office much longer. Brownback is awaiting Senate confirmation to lead the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, and Malloy announced in April he will not seek a third term in 2018. They join Christie in the bottom three.

Big losers

First-term West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice tops the list of negative net swings in approval for the third quarter of 2017 following his ballyhooed announcement — complete with an appearance by President Donald Trump — that he was leaving the Democratic Party to become a Republican. The move from the left to the right side of the aisle has thus far brought all of the political risks without any of the benefits, polling shows. The billionaire businessman hemorrhaged support from Democrats and independents while suffering GOP defections at a lower rate, resulting in a net drop of 22 points. That puts him 5 points underwater: 41 percent of Mountaineers approve of him, while 46 percent disapprove.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois, who continues to clash with Democrats in the Legislature over budget issues and has overseen a period of staff upheaval, is still sliding with voters ahead of his re-election bid next year. He experienced a net loss of 16 points, with 30 percent approving of his job performance and 55 percent disapproving.

Two Republican incumbents who won’t seek re-election next year because of term limits — Susana Martinez of New Mexico and Wyoming’s Matt Mead — also saw declining fortunes among their constituents. Mead lost 16 net points and Martinez went down 14 net points. However, 59 percent of voters approve of Mead, while Martinez is 15 points underwater — 37 percent approve vs. 52 percent disapprove.

Related: America’s Most and Least Popular Senators

Small gains among winners

While there were no large swings in net gains made by any governors during the third quarter, a few made small improvements, including GOP Govs. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas (up 7 points), Rick Scott of Florida (5 points), Scott Walker of Wisconsin (4 points) and Eric Holcomb of Indiana (3 points).

Potential 2020 hopefuls

It was not a banner quarter for governors considered potential 2020 presidential candidates — almost all experienced net drops in approval ratings, though they remain popular among constituents. On the Democratic side were New York’s Andrew Cuomo (down 8 points), Washington’s Jay Inslee (down 6 points), Virginia’s Terry McAuliffe (down 6 points), along with North Carolina’s Roy Cooper and Colorado’s John Hickenlooper (who each lost 3 points). Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) saw no net change in his approval rating.

Branstad’s replacement largely unknown

Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) assumed office on May 24 after serving as the state’s lieutenant governor since 2011. She replaced former Gov. Terry Branstad, who became U.S. ambassador to China that month. Reynolds is the most unknown governor among constituents in Morning Consult’s rankings. Three in 10 Iowan voters said they didn’t know or had no opinion about Reynolds, but she is off to a solid start, with an approval rating of 45 percent and a disapproval rating of 27 percent.

State	Governor	Approve	Disapprove	Don’t Know/No Opinion	Margin of Error
Alabama	Kay Ivey	62%	12%	24%	1%
Alaska	Bill Walker	40%	47%	13%	5%
Arizona	Doug Ducey	46%	33%	21%	1%
Arkansas	Asa Hutchinson	63%	19%	18%	2%
California	Jerry Brown	48%	37%	16%	1%
Colorado	John Hickenlooper	54%	30%	16%	2%
Connecticut	Dan Malloy	23%	68%	9%	2%
Delaware	John Carney	51%	27%	22%	3%
Florida	Rick Scott	54%	34%	13%	1%
Georgia	Nathan Deal	56%	24%	19%	1%
Hawaii	David Ige	47%	39%	14%	4%
Idaho	Butch Otter	51%	35%	14%	3%
Illinois	Bruce Rauner	30%	55%	15%	1%
Indiana	Eric Holcomb	53%	21%	26%	1%
Iowa	Kim Reynolds	45%	27%	30%	2%
Kansas	Sam Brownback	24%	66%	10%	2%
Kentucky	Matt Bevin	45%	41%	15%	1%
Louisiana	John Bel Edwards	53%	32%	15%	2%
Maine	Paul LePage	42%	52%	6%	3%
Maryland	Larry Hogan	66%	18%	16%	1%
Massachusetts	Charlie Baker	69%	17%	15%	1%
Michigan	Rick Snyder	37%	50%	13%	1%
Minnesota	Mark Dayton	52%	34%	14%	2%
Mississippi	Phil Bryant	55%	27%	18%	2%
Missouri	Eric Greitens	49%	29%	22%	1%
Montana	Steve Bullock	57%	26%	16%	4%
Nebraska	Pete Ricketts	56%	29%	16%	3%
Nevada	Brian Sandoval	61%	21%	19%	2%
New Hampshire	Chris Sununu	59%	22%	19%	3%
New Jersey	Chris Christie	18%	77%	5%	1%
New Mexico	Susana Martinez	37%	52%	10%	3%
New York	Andrew Cuomo	55%	33%	12%	1%
North Carolina	Roy Cooper	50%	28%	22%	1%
North Dakota	Doug Burgum	62%	17%	20%	4%
Ohio	John Kasich	55%	30%	16%	1%
Oklahoma	Mary Fallin	30%	58%	12%	2%
Oregon	Kate Brown	50%	34%	17%	2%
Pennsylvania	Tom Wolf	46%	38%	16%	1%
Rhode Island	Gina Raimondo	41%	47%	12%	3%
South Carolina	Henry McMaster	51%	21%	27%	1%
South Dakota	Dennis Daugaard	59%	25%	15%	4%
Tennessee	Bill Haslam	57%	23%	20%	1%
Texas	Greg Abbott	58%	25%	16%	1%
Utah	Gary Herbert	56%	29%	14%	2%
Vermont	Phil Scott	60%	21%	19%	4%
Virginia	Terry McAuliffe	48%	31%	20%	1%
Washington	Jay Inslee	48%	33%	18%	1%
West Virginia	Jim Justice	41%	46%	13%	2%
Wisconsin	Scott Walker	44%	48%	8%	1%
Wyoming	Matt Mead	59%	23%	18%	6%

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