Thanks for the ping, Joe. I would have missed this one.
Posted on 05/28/2005 7:35:57 AM PDT by Fido969
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Baldacci's 'favorability' at 29 percent
By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press
©Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. E-mail this story to a friend GOVERNOR'S APPROVAL RATING One year ago: 54 percent
Last fall: 61 percent
This month: 43 percent
A telephone survey that tracks what Mainers think of their political leaders has given Gov. John Baldacci a favorability rating of 29 percent, half that of Maine's two U.S. senators and lower than that of President Bush.
Eighteen months before Baldacci seeks a second term, 37 percent of those surveyed said they had an unfavorable opinion of him, while 34 percent were undecided. The governor's job approval rating, a separate question from favorability rating, has gone down 18 percent since last fall, according to the survey released Friday.
"I think there's been a steady erosion of support for the governor," said MaryEllen FitzGerald, president of Critical Insights, the Portland company that conducted the poll.
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.
Thirty-one percent of Mainers had a favorable opinion of Bush, while 53 percent had an unfavorable opinion, according to the survey.
Snowe was given a favorable rating from 65 percent of the respondents, while 13 percent said they had a negative opinion of her. Fifty-eight percent had a favorable opinion of Collins, while 16 percent had an unfavorable opinion.
Tom Allen's favorability rating stood at 43 percent, with 17 percent giving him an unfavorable rating. Twenty-nine percent gave Michaud a favorable rating, with 11 percent having an unfavorable opinion.
The survey also gauged Baldacci's job approval rating, which now stands at 43 percent. That's the first time since Baldacci became governor that his job approval rating has fallen below his disapproval rating, which came in at 45 percent, the survey said.
Baldacci had a 61 percent job approval rating last fall, and a 54 percent job approval rating a year ago.
FitzGerald said the economy is the No. 1 concern of residents, and that their opinion of Baldacci has fallen with a bleak economic outlook.
The second day into the survey, the Pentagon announced that it was recommending that Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery and a military processing center in Limestone be closed, and that the Brunswick Naval Air Station be realigned.
If the Pentagon's recommendations are approved, Maine stands to lose up to 12,000 jobs directly and indirectly.
Unfortunately, I don't see anyone in the Maine Republican party at this point (except maybe Peter C.) who has enough backbnone to stand up to the dims and 'rats that have taken over the state capital.
29%, that high, must have taken the poll only amongst the reporters and reporterettes at the PPH and Casco Bay Weekely, opps forgot the CCW went belly up.
We have a dem state and suffer for it with high taxes and a harsh business climate. Every response I get from Allen, my rep, is it is the fault of the Bush admin and the tax breaks we got (for the rich). All the current discussion is not how to cut spending, but what taxes we can raise to keep government going. In the mean time we now have a state sponsored medical program that, in time will completely bankrupt the state.
Ever notice that pub led states are almost all solvent while the dem states are almost all broke?
Maine (Balducci) ping
Yeah! I think these numbers are fixed also; Baldacci is a 0% as far as I am concerned he is making Maine a more Wretched place to live. Seems like a good share of Maine is populated with mindless liberals just following the liberals because the HATE the conservative philosophy that calls black, black and white, white. For longer than I have been alive the State of Maine has had a liberal democratic governor; that's over forty years. The highest tax burden in the country and one of the worst business atmospheres maybe we should vote in a loberal governor next time that seems to be workin' real good. NOT!! WTF if it ain't workin' maybe we should oughtta try sompin else! :^(
Yeah! I think these numbers are fixed also; Baldacci is a 0% as far as I am concerned he is making Maine a more Wretched place to live. Seems like a good share of Maine is populated with mindless liberals just following the liberals because the HATE the conservative philosophy that calls black, black and white, white. For longer than I have been alive the State of Maine has had a liberal democratic governor; that's over forty years. The highest tax burden in the country and one of the worst business atmospheres maybe we should vote in a liberal democrat for governor next time that seems to be workin' real good. NOT!! WTF if it ain't workin' maybe we should oughtta try sompin else! :^(
Baldacci is a classical machine Democrat: tax, spend, and rake in the dollars for yourself and your corrupt cronies.
Things have always been pretty bad for business in Maine, but he has definitely made things worse. MBNA moved into the Camden-Belfast area on West Penobscot Bay some years ago, and brought a ton of jobs with it. Real estate values climbed and Belfast started to gentrify. Last year MBNA announced that they were moving their whole operation out of state, which was a crushing blow to the region and the whole state.
They moved in because Maine is a pleasant place to live and their business can be run from anywhere. They moved out because they were losing their shirts to Maine's crushing menu of taxes and bureaucratic regulations.
Poor Maine. When you rub borders with liberal Canada (Quebec) and leftist New England you get infected. Maybe Maine residents will smell the coffee and dump the DimRat libs ruining the state. Then again if there are too many blinded libs in-state then they get what they deserve.
Thanks for the ping, Joe. I would have missed this one.
You are still going to see some liberals try to spin this as Bush's fault. Bondacci is doing his best to kill us.
This looks like the "it's all Bush's fault" escape clause.
Let's look at the numbers.
Snowe 65%
Collins 58%
Allen 43%
Bush 31% (only got 45% in election)
Baldacci 29%
Michaud 29%
When you look at the numbers it looks good for Republicans. All Democrats have fallen below 50%. Bush lost this state with only 45% of the vote so his numbers have only fallen 14%. Far less than any of the Democrats. I understand our Senators are RINOs and far from conservative but we need to be careful. Changing peoples way of thinking is not an overnight job. It will take time to turn ME. into a conservative Republican state but we have a golden opportunity here. We need to find some conservative republicans in moderates clothing that can turn this state around.
I agree that's a goal, but I can't think of anyone at the moment that fits the bill.
I think Baldacci blew it when he pushed the gay rights thing, and I don't think the smoking bans endeared him to many people either. Then there was the seat-belt-as-a-primary-offense thing.
There's a strong streak of "leave me alone," in Mainers (with the exception of southern Maine) even among life-long Democrats. The Bangor boy may have spent too much time on the Beltway for his own good.
Who knows? Mainers can be so politically schizophrenic.
There's a strong streak of "leave me alone," in Mainers
Absolutely, that is one of the things I love about Mainers. They are also very bullheaded and set in their ways. That is why it will be a slow process getting them to understand they are DINOs. They vote party line because they always have. Many Mainers don't really understand that the Republicans come closer to matching up with their politics and values much more than Democrats do.
I won't disagree, but Maine business has always been pretty desultory. Maine small business owners want a house in town, a camp out at the lake and a pickup to drive between the two... after that, they could care less.
Could this guy actually be beaten next year?
When was the last time an incubment senator from Maine was defeated?
1978, when William Cohen beat the incumbent Democrat William Hathaway.
Coincidently, most of the food served at his restaurant is 29 degrees.
Man, I'm glad I left Taxationland two years ago.
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