Baldacci's Numbers Down
A new Critical Insights poll finds Baldacci's favorability slipping to 29%. That's down from even the surprising 37% seen in the Survey USA poll earlier this month.
Baldacci told reporters that he´s not concerned about the falling numbers, and said they´re not surprising given the tough challenges the state is facing.
"Polls go up and down. They come and go," he said.
For the survey, Critical Insights called 600 Mainers by telephone from May 12-19 asking their opinions of Bush, Baldacci, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, and U.S. Reps. Tom Allen and Mike Michaud. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points/
According to the poll, Bush's ratings among Mainers are 31% favorable, 53% unfavorable, and 16% with no opinion. Here's how the local pols stacked up:
Baldacci 29/37/34
Snowe 65/13/22
Collins 58/16/26
Allen 43/17/40
Michaud 29/11/60
People seem to like Snowe and are just getting to know Michaud. Interestingly, the internals show both Snowe and Collins get higher ratings from Independents and Democrats than Republicans.
The real news in this poll, however, is definitely the drop for Baldacci. Even his job approval rating is down, with 43% approving, 45% showing disapproval and 12% undecided. Surprisingly, his numbers are actually worse among his former congressional constituents in the 2nd CD.
The BRAC closure list came out on the second day of polling, and that may have had some effect on these numbers, also Baldacci has a high undecided rate and his favorables will likely rise as the squabbling over the budget recedes. These results, however, definitely open the door a crack for Baldacci's Republican challengers in '06, disorganized as they may be. A strong Green Party challenge (most likely from Pat Lamarche) may also help the GOP.
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posted by @ 2:20 AM 
3 comments
3 Comments:
The campaign to oppose Baldacci is far from disorganized.
Posted by Bob
I do not think you can attribute Baldacci's low numbers to the BRAC announcement. If that was the case, it should have also affected the numbers for our members of Congress.
Posted by George
The budget crises is multidimensional; and service cutbacks in health and mental health care hit Baldacci's key constituents hard. Slow/no pay of health care providers and a reaction that includes "computer glitches" that is still going on, weakens public confidence in his ability to govern and select competant managers.
Attempting to borrow a half billion dollars, pass it off as a genuine revenue bond, and balance it on the back of largely poor and working class gamblers dramatically crossed the line; triggering a citizen's veto movement with real legs.
Suing the Federal Government over NCLB is not a wise move, since it fully exposes to intense scrutiny the entire---and very unpopular among educators, LEARNING RESULTS effort of the past decade, and the abysmal failure to educate poor children, or give them real options.
HOUSE
Posted by HOUSE