Dem
51
GOP
49
We're not entirely sure what's going on with the management of Morning Consult. For a while, they will produce approval ratings of high-ranking non-presidential politicians—either governors, or senators, or both. Then, they'll announce they're getting out of that business, because there's no money in it. After a year or so, however, they are back at it.
And so it is that the pollster has just released a comprehensive overview of gubernatorial approval ratings. The most unpopular governor in America is currently... Tate Reeves (R-MS), who is one point underwater, with 45% of Mississippians approving of the job he's doing and 46% disapproving. This is not surprising, as he's an uninspiring fellow who has presided over some disastrous governmental failures, most obviously the occasion when the capital city of Jackson was left without potable water for weeks on end.
That said, as The Hill breathlessly reported yesterday, Reeves is still doing better than Joe Biden. The President is currently around 40% approval, with 54% disapproving, putting him 14 points underwater. The staff mathematician advises us that is far worse than 1 point underwater.
We suppose that, from the vantage of the White House, there's a glass-half-full and a glass-half-empty way to look at this. The glass-half-empty view is that Biden is really unpopular; the most unpopular chief executive in the country. That is not the best starting point for a reelection bid.
On the other hand, the glass-half-full view is that Reeves is very unpopular, and yet he still got reelected. As we have noted many times, it's entirely possible that approval ratings in 2023 don't mean the same thing that they used to. It's also worth noting that as unpopular as Biden might be, he's likely to be matched up against another historically unpopular candidate in Donald Trump. (Z)