Compared To Trump, Even The Worst Governors Look Relatively Competent To Many People

COVID-pallooza by Chip Proser

This morning, the Washington Post reported that 49 of 50 governors have better coronavirus poll numbers than Trump. If you've been reading DWT even semi-regularly, you could have guessed that. Aaron Blake wrote that Señor Trumpanzee tried taking credit for governors' high ratings, despite the fact that their ratings are all high because voters are contrasting them to him! Some of these governors are actually doing a horrendous job on responding to the pandemic but still look good compared to Trump! Blake noted that last week, the repulsive, murderous Orange Blob "responded to governors' positive coronavirus poll numbers by citing his own federal government's help. 'Remember this,' Trump tweeted, 'every Governor who has sky high approval on their handling of the Coronavirus, and I am happy for them all, could in no way have gotten those numbers, or had that success, without me and the Federal Governments help.' Americans, though, don't seem to be crediting Trump nearly as much as he would like."

New polling data from SurveyMonkey, which were shared with the Washington Post, show that fully 49 of 50 governors have significantly higher approval ratings for their coronavirus responses than Trump does in recent polls. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll last week showed 43 percent of Americans approved of Trump's handling of the outbreak.

The one governor on Trump's level is Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, whose efforts to reopen his state have proved controversial. In The Post-Ipsos poll, Kemp's approval rating was 39 percent; in the new one, it's a similar 43 percent-- the same as Trump's.

COVID-Kemp

...The data show Democratic governors with an average coronavirus approval rating of 70 percent, while Republican governors are lower, at 63 percent.

But interestingly, most of the highest and lowest approval ratings belong to Republicans.

Among the highest are a trio of moderate Republicans who have distanced themselves from Trump-- Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan at 85 percent, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott at 82 percent, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker at 82 percent. They occupy three of the top five slots, and six of the top seven are Republicans.

On the other end of the scale, though, are many of their fellow GOPers. Of the 11 governors with the lowest approval ratings on coronavirus, nine are Republicans.

Along with Kemp, they including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at 58 percent. Both governors have pushed forward with among the most aggressive reopening plans.

Also among the 11 at the lowest end are four Republican governors of Midwestern states-- Iowa's Kim Reynolds, South Dakota's Kristi Noem, Missouri's Mike Parson and Nebraska's Pete Ricketts-- all at 58 percent. All were among the latest holdouts on issuing statewide stay-at-home orders or were among the few to never issue them at all.

People living in the Wave II states that are starting to get wallopped because of their governors' bad decisions seem aware of who the authors of their misery are. New cases in Wave I hot-spots like New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington and Louisiana are falling dramatically, while new cases are rising dramatically in states where, in most cases, governors have refused to allow science to play a significant role in their responses to the pandemic. These Wave II states are listed in order of cases per million as of yesterday:

• Nebraska- 5,493 (Now worse off than Michigan and Pennsylvania)
• Iowa- 4,781
• South Dakota- 4,552
• Indiana- 4,197
• Colorado- 3,855
• Mississippi- 3,841
• Virginia- 3,766
• Georgia- 3,638
• New Mexico- 2,907
• Minnesota- 2,903 (thanks Kristi Noem)
• Tennessee- 2,637
• North Dakota- 2,534 (thanks Krist Noem)
• Ohio- 2,437
• Utah- 2,303
• Nevada- 2,242
• Wisconsin- 2,179 (genocidal state legislature enabled by Supreme Court)
• Florida- 2,162
• California- 2,068 (weak governor afraid to stand up to extremists)
• Arizona- 1,947
• Missouri- 1,825
• South Carolina- 1,737
• Texas- 1,713