Big surprise.
On March 24th SurveyUSA released a 600 sample poll taken in Missouri from March 14th through the 16th which shows that Matt “baby” Blunt continues to be a serious lame duck. His overall numbers are slightly better than those in the February poll. The margin of error is 4.1%.
The poll was sponsored by KCTV in Kansas City.
Do you approve or disapprove of the job Matt Blunt is doing as Governor?
All
43% – approve
50% – disapprove
7% – not sureDemocrats [40% of sample]
18% – approve
75% – disapprove
7% – not surerepublicans [30% of sample]
74% – approve
20% – disapprove
6% – not sureIndependents [20% of sample]
45% – approve
48% – disapprove
6% – not sure
Hmmm. He’s doing worse among Democrats and much better among republicans and Independents. Still, at only 20% of the sample (when compared a larger representation in previous monthly surveys) those Independents pack something of a wallop. I do believe that the 20% has got to be a typo.
Over the past several months SurveyUSA has been running the same series of questions about the most important issue facing the next president – cross tabbed with “baby” Blunt’s approval numbers it makes for some interesting reading. The “hierarchy” still has the economy as the top issue. There’s been some shuffling after the first two spots since the last survey, but nothing to get statistically worked up about since the subsamples aren’t particularly big.
In 1992 terms: “It’s the economy…”
Top Issues for Next President (“baby” Blunt’s approval numbers within each group)
Economy [41% of sample]
44% – approve
48% – disapprove
8% – not sureHealth Care [14% of sample]
23% – approve
70% – disapprove
7% – not sureIraq [13% of sample]
55% – approve
45% – disapprove
0% – not sureTerrorism [9% of sample]
64% – approve
32% – disapprove
4% – not sureImmigration [8% of sample]
60% – approve
35% – disapprove
5% – not sureEducation [4% of sample]
23% – approve
75% – disapprove
2% – not sureSocial Security [4% of sample]
33% – approve
65% – disapprove
2% – not sureEnvironment [2% of sample]
19% – approve
81% – disapprove
0% – not sure
The republican “fear” base (terrorism and immigration) is always faithful. I suspect some of the anti-war left has moved over to the economy column, leaving the pro-war right to skew the results. Matt “baby” Blunt has net disapproval among those who consider either the economy, health care, education, social security, or the environment as the most pressing issues for the next president.