Rell’s Approval Rating Slips To Lowest Level As Governor
http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-qpoll-0723.artjul23,0,7779403.story
By CHRISTOPHER KEATING
The Hartford Courant
July 23, 2009
Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s approval rating has dropped to her lowest level ever — at 65 percent — amid a deep economic downturn and months of negative TV commercials by the state employee unions.
Regardless, Rell’s supporters say the numbers are still high for a governor dealing with high unemployment and a projected state deficit as high as $8.85 billion over the next two years. Her rating is higher than those of governors in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio who are also facing major budget problems.
“Gov. Jodi Rell’s honeymoon with Connecticut voters just won’t end, despite a recession and a budget stalemate,” said Douglas Schwartz, Quinnipiac University’s poll director. “She has defied political gravity for five years by almost always topping 70 percent in job approval and enjoying high marks not only among Republicans and independents, but Democrats as well. The love affair with Democrats is wearing thin, but she’s still in very good shape.”
Rell’s highest approval rating was 83 percent in January 2005. Her approval numbers on four previous polls this year ranged from 72 percent to 75 percent.
The State Employee Bargaining Agent Coalition has broadcast five TV commercials since February, including more pointed ads recently that prominently show Rell’s face and call upon her to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations. One of the commercials shows smoke depicting wealthy fat-cats smoking cigars and living well without increased taxes.
“I think the television commercials had everything to do with why her favorabilities have come down,” said Matt O’Connor, a union coalition spokesman.
“We’d like the public to know that her policies have been hurting Connecticut — her proposed budget, her charade for weeks and months when she and the legislature should have been sitting down and hammering out the budget. You’ve got to have a budget that isn’t just premised on slash-and-burn tactics.”
Schwartz, however, said the high unemployment rate, not ads, drove the poll.
“The real events are what affect people’s views of the governor, like the tough economy — not the ads,” Schwartz said Wednesday. “They don’t need to be told by an ad to blame the governor if they’re upset about losing a job.”
As in previous polls both this year and in the past, citizens said they prefer cutting services to raising taxes. Overall, 60 percent of those polled said they would prefer cutting government programs and services, compared with 30 percent for raising taxes.
Also, 51 percent of those polled said they would support raising taxes on corporations, while 45 percent are opposed.
Even though the new fiscal year began July 1, the state still does not have a budget deal. The state has been operating by an executive order that Rell signed for the month of July. She is now preparing another executive order for August.
Senate GOP leader John McKinney said, “The latest Q Poll confirms what Gov. Rell and legislative Republicans have been saying for months: The state of Connecticut must cut spending before raising taxes.
“Three out of five residents say they favor cutting government services before raising taxes — exactly the opposite direction of plans put forward by majority Democrats. … If Democrat leaders are so certain that the public supports their multibillion-dollar tax increases, then, as the supermajority, they should stop talking and pass their budget.”
Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams said the Democrats are correct on the detailed questions about how to solve the state budget crisis. “The results of the new Quinnipiac poll show that while Gov. Rell may win a popularity contest with the state legislature, she is losing the public argument over how to solve the state budget crisis,” Williams said.
Citing the survey, he said, “Nearly three-quarters of those polled think her opposition to the progressive income tax for couples earning at least $500,000 is wrong. People clearly think that the state’s richest residents, many of whom enjoyed enormous tax breaks during President [George W.] Bush’s eight years in office, should be part of the budget solution, even if that means paying a little more in taxes.”
Copyright © 2009, The Hartford Courant
Join us on Facebook. Fight the Lies.