Sorry politicians, but Pennsylvania is just not that into you. At least that’s what a Morning Consult poll indicates for Pennsylvania’s top three statewide elected officials.
The market research company polled residents in all 50 states to determine the most and least popular Governors and Senators in the country. The rankings are determined by the total job approval number in descending order, rather than net approval.
Gov. Tom Wolf (D), Sen. Bob Casey (D), and Sen. Pat Toomey (R) each failed to crack the 50th percentile in popularity compared to their peers. The good news for Wolf and Casey is that their approval ratings are net positive.
Wolf held the highest approval rating for the three: 45% approve, 38% disapprove, and 17% had no opinion. However, this didn’t make Wolf stand out in the Governor’s list, ranking as the 31st most popular governor in the country. Wolf’s net approval rating is 7%.
Casey held the best net approval rating of the bunch, 10%. 41% of Pennsylvanians polled approve of the Senator’s job versus 31% who disapprove and 26% with no opinion. Casey is tied with Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas as the 67th most popular Senators in the nation.
Toomey is rated on this list as the 94th most popular Senator. 35% of Pennsylvanians approve of his job performance, while 39% disapprove and 25% have no opinion.
If you flip the numbers around and rank in descending order of highest disapproval numbers, Toomey ranks 16th most unpopular, Wolf ranks 19th, and Casey ranks 54th. Morning Consult only included 99 of 100 Senators, since Mississippi inaugurated a new one after the polling started.
Is the grass greener on the other side?
Some of Pennsylvania’s neighbors have ratings to boast, while others find themselves toward the bottom of the list.
The most popular governor with a state bordering Pennsylvania goes to Maryland’s (R) Larry Hogan. He has the second highest approval rating of any Governor in the nation with 68%. Hogan’s net approval rating is 51 points.
Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) holds the lowest approval rating of PA’s neighbors with 41% believing he is doing a good job. Justice has a net approval rating of -4.
Delaware is home to the most popular Senator in the region. Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE) holds a 51% approval rating with 27% disapproving and 22% having no opinion. His net approval rating is 24 points.
The grass certainly isn’t greener for the Garden State’s Senior senator. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) only has a 33% approval rating with 41% disapproving and 26% having no opinion. This list has Menendez with the lowest approval rating of any Democrat in the Senate.
2020 Radar
The Keystone state also has some neighbors who reportedly have their sights set on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in 2020.
Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Govs. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) and John Kasich (R-OH) didn’t find themselves in the top 10 of most popular Senators or Governors in the nation.
Cuomo and Kasich shared a 48% approval rating, but Kasich holds the net approval advantage. Kasich’s net approval is 15 points, while Cuomo’s is 9 points.
Booker holds a slight advantage over Gillibrand with having a 48% approval rating to her 47%. Gillibrand has the upper hand in net approval rating with 19 to Booker’s 17 points.
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14 Responses
find it interesting all three have the worst press/communications shops in country. Just embarrassing.
All Three are the most boring people; all share an inability to speak publicly; all three never visit the state. Just sayin lets factor their inept staffs, they hire, for such lousy numbers. These three have no shame and the staffs should be replaced for starters.
PA rarely produces politicians who shine on the national stage. That is why our only president was Buchanan and that was a disaster
To be fair, though, Pennsylvania’s record is far better than Georgia’s and Hawaii’s
Stay classy, Dave…
I’m not sure what these numbers mean. Polls have Wolf way out in front of Scott Wagner by 19 points and Casey out in front of Lou Barletta by 17 points.
They sure did not ask me because I would clearly give high negatives to Casey. Besides being totally ineffectual all of the time he only emerges in election years. He is pure pablum and a shadow of his principled father. He has no principles eschewing his so called pro life stance to stand with the hypocrites of his party. Democrats claim they are for the people but they support the extermination of the unborn. This stance is the greatest tragedy of our time-a holocaust exceeding that of the Third Reich.
I’m sure you are against rape victims getting abortions too.
I think this is reflective of the popularity of vanilla or unflavored yogurt.
I have my opinions about all of them, each different. The poll, though, may simply be reflective of how evenly balanced the parties are in PA. The other side’s disapproval brings down each official.
They are all pretty bland and rarely make much news. They aren’t bomb-throwers that say a lot of controversial things.
Toomey is a f*cking stooge for failed right-wing ideology and bad tax policy, but he tries to stay under the radar. He’s like Santorum, but people don’t realize it.
Dave, you’re “a f*cking stooge for failed left-wing ideology and tax increases.” How’s that?
I concur with your analysis of David Diano.
David, you’re an idiot.
This take makes the most sense, which is why it will be dismissed by most people because it doesn’t support their interests in trashing their political adversaries.
Theoretically Toomey is the most conservative Republican who can get elected in PA, and Casey is the most liberal Democrat who can get elected in PA. So not only do Democrats hate Toomey, but lots of conservative Republicans are lukewarm about him too. The same is probably true for Casey if you just switch the parties around.