The Republican Governors Association has plenty of material to cheer about within the latest nationwide polling from Morning Consult. The survey reveals that among the top ten most popular state-level chief executives in the nation, all ten are members of the GOP. We'll get to the bottom ten in a moment, but take a look at the honor roll results:
??The top 10 most popular governors are ALL Republicans??:
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 18, 2019
Charlie Baker (MA)
Larry Hogan (MD)
Chris Sununu (NH)
Phil Scott (VT)
Mark Gordon (WY)
Doug Burgum (ND)
Asa Hutchinson (AR)
Gregg Abbott (TX)
Bill Lee (TN)
Ron DeSantis (FL) https://t.co/xsHuzY765y pic.twitter.com/6TrL9VtO5r
This list includes northeastern moderates like Baker and Hogan, mainstream conservatives like Sununu and Hutchinson, and hardcore conservatives like Abbott (who also happens to be quite effective and savvy). The number that really jumps out at me is the blowout success of Ron DeSantis. He was one of the most polarizing and controversial candidates on the ballot in 2018, and won an upset victory by a whisker. Now he's 37 points above water, with just one-in-five Floridians disapproving of his job performance. He campaigned as a Trumpy populist, but has governed more as a center-right pragmatist, earning accolades from a wide array of voters in the largest and most diverse battleground state in America. As for the bottom ten, seven of them are Democrats:
Least popular. pic.twitter.com/UqPBlFc46k
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) July 18, 2019
Gov. Bevin has his work cut out for him in Kentucky, but he could benefit from President Trump's presence at the top of the ballot next year. As we've mentioned in our analysis of the Bluegrass State's Senate race, Trump beat Hillary Clinton there by roughly 30 points in 2016. Meanwhile, I can't help but wonder what is wrong with the voters of Connecticut. They've been plagued by economic contraction, high taxes, and a disappearing tax base for years. In 2018, with the outgoing Democratic governor consistently rates as the least popular governor in America, the Connecticut electorate decided to elect...another Democrat with the same failed policies. That Democrat is now mired in deep unpopularity. Go figure. I'll leave you with this new nugget from an NBC poll:
SurveyMonkey/NBC poll from July 2-16 puts Trump approval rating at 48 percent -- at/near his all-time high.https://t.co/Yti2nYe0a4
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) July 19, 2019
The survey also found that President Donald Trump's overall approval rating ticked upward to 48 percent in July, compared to 45 percent in a NBC News|SurveyMonkey online poll in September. The president's disapproval rating decreased to 51 percent, compared to 54 percent in the September poll. The survey also shows the Trump administration's frequent messaging about a crisis on the border appears to be having an effect on public opinion...The new poll found 68 percent of Americans said the condition of the national economy is "very good" or "fairly good"...
Caveat: Most of this polling was completed prior to the racial controversies that have dominated news cycles for nearly a week, but this isn't the only recent survey that has shown Trump bumping into the upper 40's.