Bredesen 49th in Own-Party Job Approval

[levitatingdonkey]

I posted this earlier as a reply on the discussion about Bredesen for President, but finally figured out how to do basic HTML formatting to make it more readable. So I'm reposting the content as a new thread. A full formatted HTML spreadsheet, along with thier job approval from each party and indepdents, own-party approval, rank, etc. is available at http://democracyfortennessee.smartcampaigns.com/index.php?q=node/view/376

In short, there is only one governor in the nation who is less popular than Bredesen within their own political party, and that is Gov. Taft, the Republican from Ohio who is being indicted for ethics violations. Despite repeated calls for his resignation, he continues to hold on... barely.

Gov. Bredesen is tied with Gov. Murkowski (R-Alaska) for the slot of 49th nationally in own-party job approval. If you take Republicans out of the mix and just look at Democratic governors and their respective job approval ratings from Democratic Party members, then Gov. Bredesen is dead last.

Gov. Bredesen is one of only two governors nationally that has less support within his own political party than the other major party (47% among Dems and 53% among Repubs). The other governor is Gov. Freudenthal of Wyoming who is at least liked by 65% of his own Democratic Party while the Republicans simply give him higher approval ratings of 72%.

The ranking below is of their job approval rating amongst their own party base, whether Republican or Democrat, using the data from the Sept. 2005 SurveyUSA poll of all 50 governors and thier job approval ratings. The raw data used can be accessed at http://www.surveyusa.com/50State2005/50StateGovernorApproval0905SortedbyState.htm (Click on each state to see the job approval by party)..

1 - Gov. Jim Douglas (R-Vermont): 90%
2 - Gov. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota): 89%
3 - Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-Montana): 86%
4 - Gov. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota): 86%
5 - Gov. Sonny Perdue (R-Georgia): 81%
6 - Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-Utah): 81%
7 - Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts): 80%
8 - Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Florida): 79%
9 - Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minnesota): 79%
10 - Gov. Jodi Rell (R-Connecticut): 78%
11 - Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kansas): 78%
12 - Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Mississippi): 78%
13 - Gov. Dirk Kempthorne (R-Idaho): 75%
14 - Gov. Tom Vilsack (D-Iowa): 74%
15 - Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-Arizona): 73%
16 - Gov. Bill Owens (R-Colorado): 73%
17 - Gov. John Lynch (D-New Hampshire): 73%
18 - Gov. Christine Gregoire (D-Washington): 73%
19 - Gov. Bob Riley (R-Alabama): 72%
20 - Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas): 72%
21 - Gov. Mark Warner (D-Virginia): 72%
22 - Gov. Dave Heineman (R-Nebraska): 70%
23 - Gov. Michael Easley (D-North Carolina): 70%
24 - Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R-Maryland): 69%
25 - Gov. Mark Sanford (R-South Carolina): 69%
26 - Gov. Linda Lingle (R-Hawaii): 68%
27 - Gov. Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico): 68%
28 - Gov. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia): 66%
29 - Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D-Wyoming): 65%
30 - Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Indiana): 64%
31 - Gov. Don Carcieri (R-Rhode Island): 64%
32 - Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas): 63%
33 - Gov. Brad Henry (D-Oklahoma): 62%
34 - Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D-Oregon): 62%
35 - Gov. Kenny Guinn (R-Nevada): 61%
36 - Gov. Jim Doyle (D-Wisconsin): 60%
37 - Gov. George Pataki (R-New York): 59%
38 - Gov. Matt Blunt (R-Missouri): 58%
39 - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-California): 57%
40 - Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D-Louisiana): 56%
41 - Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-Michigan): 55%
42 - Gov. Richard Codey (D-New Jersey): 54%
43 - Gov. Edward Rendell (D-Pennsylvania): 54%
44 - Gov. John Baldacci (D-Maine): 53%
45 - Gov. Ruth Minner (D-Delaware): 51%
46 - Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R-Kentucky): 49%
47 - Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Illinois): 48%
48 - Gov. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska): 47%
49 - Gov. Phil Bredesen (D-Tennessee): 47%
50 - Gov. Bob Taft (R-Ohio): 25%

[Clark2008]

1. Odd because I never hear anyone really complain about him.

I know people are up in arms over the TennCare issue, but Bredesen can't help it that the Republican General Assembly won't pass progressive tax laws (i.e. an income tax to do away with the Draconian sales tax we have) to fund TennCare.

[levitatingdonkey]

2. He doesn't need an income tax...

While I fully support a state income tax as part of a comrehensive tax reform package, Gov. Bredesen can solve a lot of the TennCare problems without it. Check out some of the reforms at http://www.tenncare.org/OurPlan/index.html that could save a bunch of money without having to cut people off.

Additional needs can be met with a health care provider tax. The advantage of a health care provider tax is that it would naturally keep up with medical inflation, which is ultimately the underlying cause of most of the TennCare increases. Even an income tax won't keep up with medical inflation which is one reason why it is best not to mix the two issues.

[FreedomAngel82]

10. I think that's the biggest reason why his raitings are so low

Cause of the whole TennCare problem. :( I wish he would look at those and do something.

[levitatingdonkey]

3. Everyone I know complains about him

Just about everyone I know can't stand the guy. I know several folks who worked on his campaign last time that refuse to do so again. I know a number of county party chairs that can't stand him. Our local county party meetings occasionally deteriorate into Bredesen-bashing sessions. The running assumption is that Bredesen will need a bit more money this time since he will have to pay all his campaign workers with no one willing to volunteer for the campaign. That's the vibe I get at least...

[madmom]

4. Taft is now down to 15% ...n/t

[asjr]

5. Bredesen is getting a bad rap. He inherited

a TN Care from a sleazy Republican governor who didn't care if people stole from it.

[guruoo]

6. And yet, he has no serious opponents

[levitatingdonkey]

7. Beth Hartman Harwell is considering the bid from the right...

There may be serious challenges from the Right as Beth Harwell is considering a run as a Republican. See http://epaper.ardemgaz.com/WebChannel/ShowStory.asp?Path=ChatTFPress/2005/09/19&ID=Ar00105 and http://www.southendgrounds.com/2006_tn_governors_race/

As for the Left, even if there is no direct challenge to Bredesen in the Primary, he's got to worry about low voter turnout come November from his base with numbers like he has... or even a viable third party candidate capitalizing on the vast segments of disenchanted Democrats.

[guruoo]

8. She won't be able to run on ethics reform...

HARWELL, REPUBLICAN PARTY MISUSE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
SCANDAL RESULTS IN RECORD FINE BY FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION


NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Republican Party, under the leadership of state representative and former party chairwoman Beth Harwell, violated federal campaign finance law by misusing more than $335,000 in political contributions, according to documents released yesterday by the Federal Election Commission.

The FEC said an audit found the Tennessee Republican Party had received more than $310,000 in contributions from 20 individuals and three political action committees (PACs) that exceeded legal limits. Moreover, the party received a $25,000 contribution from what the FEC described as an “apparent prohibited source.”

“Shame on the Tennessee Republican Party for accepting prohibited contributions and misusing this and other money,” said Bob Tuke, chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party. “It is critical for political parties to follow the law of the land if the public trust is to be upheld. Instead the Republicans violated that trust by knowingly accepting prohibited funds and misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

The FEC audit focused on the period beginning January 1, 2001, and ending December 31, 2002, under the leadership of Harwell. The state representative, who is an announced U.S. Senate candidate and a rumored candidate for governor, was elected chairwoman of the state GOP on April 7, 2001, and abruptly resigned in December 2004 shortly after the FEC wrapped up its investigation. Harwell succeeded former Sundquist aide Chip Saltsman, who was party chairman during the first quarter of 2001.
http://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:826.111435340

[tnlefty]

9. Thanks for posting this!!!

I'm sure it will be handy at some point.