The tide has changed for Gov. Tom Wolf, as PA voters are now holding state legislators responsible for the late budget.
54% point the finger at the state legislature, while only 29% blame the first-year Governor, according to a new Franklin & Marshall poll. One week after vetoing a GOP-constructed budget, 66% of respondents blamed Wolf for the budget lapse, a PoliticsPA reader poll found.
72% of Democrats blame the GOP-controlled legislature, while only 48% of Independents and 32% of Republicans agree.
The Governor and legislature are both trusted equally to make final decisions on the budget – 44% each – according to the F&M poll.
Voters reached a bipartisan agreement of their own in the poll – 66% believe lawmakers shouldn’t be paid during negotiations on a late budget.
Wolf’s Job Performance
The Governor now enjoys a 43-26% favorability rating, while 61% of Democrats believe he is doing an excellent or good job in office. However, only 16% of GOP voters agree.
His 39% overall approval rating is the same number he received in June before the budget stalemate started.
At this point in his tenure, his ratings are higher than Gov. Corbett but lower than former Govs. Tom Ridge and Ed Rendell.
Wolf picked up his strongest support from the eastern part of the state, with 58% of Philly voters appreciating his gubernatorial work. The majority of central, southwest, northwest and Allegheny-region voters believe he is doing a fair or poor job, according to the poll.
The majority of people in all income levels felt Wolf has only done fairly or poorly in his first eight months on the job. White men aged 35-54 are particularly unenthused by Wolf, the poll shows.
This Franklin & Marshall Poll surveyed 605 registered Pennsylvania voters and was conducted from August 17th to August 24th. The margin of error is +/- 3.9%.
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8 Responses
Governor Wolf was elected on the main points in his Budget. Less anyone forget he was elected with an overwhelming majority. Many of the TOP GOP LEGISLATORS where either unopposed because of gerrymandering voting districts or won by a few thousand votes. Terzai was unopposed and garnered less than 2000 votes. I would believe Governor Wolf was elected with a mandate of Pennsylvania’s to enact these measures to bring change that positively effects Pennsylvania. The GOP protecting their fund raising friends in Big Oil and Gas over property tax payers of Pennsylvania days are numbered. I just hope the next election people remember everyone of the Frackers protectors and vote them out. Time the GOP worries more about the people that live in Pennsylvania rather than the Companies and workers from Texas and Oklahoma.
When this country first started politicians were only paid $1.00 per year they were in it to help this country. Todays politicians are only in it for the money. I say go back to the way it was and we will get people who do it as there civic duty and things will be a whole lot different. They will actually start to work for the country.
This is the old tried-and-true liberal Democrat model. Who but the Dems would even ask such a question? And who but the Dems would then run around reporting and talking about the phony survey results? C’mon. These fake surveys are all the rage. In grad school we learned how to create fake surveys that were simply designed to prove how silly surveys can be. So go ahead, PoliticsPA, play the old game of blame-the-Republicans for Democrat choices. It isn’t going to work. I know because I did a survey that shows 67% of voters don’t believe one word they hear from liberals. Really.
Jason…
The best way to help the middle class is to eliminate/ reduce property taxes to free up capital to be spent in the economy, which Tom Wolf wants to do. A severance tax on oil and gas would make up the difference, yet the Republicans refuse this because they receive big campaign checks from these companies who in turn hire workers from Texas and Oklahoma.
Wolf looks like Mr conservative here. Seems to me republicans are only willing to lower taxes for rich people… and to hell with someone who can barely afford to stay in their own home.
First: Cut the legislature size in half. Those left might actually earn their salaries.
Second: Freeze all judicial salaries and make them fulltime jobs, no outside jobs allowed. Also, no referral fees allowed. Also, no political contributions from lawyers allowed. Just appointing judges would be quicker, so no political campaigns needed.
Third: Freeze all State govt salaries for 10 years. That would let them become comparable to private job salaries.
Most folks will see their property taxes decline more than their income taxes and sales taxes increase, so claims of a Wolf tax hike are really disingenuous.
Agreed except for the part about property taxes. Property tax reform should be agenda item #1 for wolf and the legislature and needs to be included in the final passage of a state budget.
I blame wolf who wants to increase the state income and sales tax that would hurt middle income families the most, while claiming to help with property taxes which helps no one who lives in an apartment. Republicans passed higher gas taxes under Corbett but need to stand true to conservatives and not pass a bill with higher taxes. Cut spending and cut the government salaries first! The middle class is struggling and wolfs budget does not help us as much as he thinks. There is waste in our government, lets cut it out and save money!