Tim Kaine is the 16th Most Popular Governor

By: Lowell
Published On: 8/22/2006 8:25:48 PM

According to the latest SurveyUSA 50-state governors' poll, Tim Kaine ranks #16 in "net approval," at +26%.  That's up from the July SurveyUSA poll, which had Kaine at +14%.

The least popular governor in the country is Bob Taft (R) of Ohio, at a stunning -62%!  Alaska governor Frank Murkowski (R) isn't much better off, at -57%.  And the governor of Kentucky, Ernie Fletcher (R), is at a horrendous -49%.  Overall, 6 of the bottom-ranked 7 governors are Republicans. Ouch.

On the other hand, coming in at #1 is the Republican governor of North Dakota, John Hoeven, at +62%.  Hoeven is followed by two governors at +58%, Brian Schweitzer (D) of Montana and Jon Huntsman (R) of Utah. Overall, 7 of the 12 top-ranked governors are Democrats.  Tim Kaine's in the upper third of all U.S. governors, which isn't bad considering what he has to deal with this year in the right wingnut-controlled House of Delegates.

Comments



Kaine needs to Campaign for Webb (DanG - 8/22/2006 9:14:36 PM)
Look at the numbers.  Kaine is (strangely) very popular with Men, where Allen is beating Webb.  He's also very popular in Shenandoah (again, not what I was expecting.)  Also, he's incredibly popular with self-described moderates.  Webb is weak against Allen with both Men and in Shenandoah, places where Kaine's popularity could help.  Also, while Webb leads in Moderates, Kaine might help him grab more (enough to win.)

Kaine shows strength in many of the places Webb shows weakness.  If Tim Kaine campaigns hard for Webb, then he might be able to win.



Go Murkowski! (Dan - 8/22/2006 10:00:51 PM)
Let's all wish Republican Frank Murkowski luck tonight.  The polls in Alaska Republican primary will all be final when we awake tomorrow.  If Murkowski somehow wins, he WILL lose to Democrat Tony Knowles in November.  Go FRANK, Go FRANK!


he's doing a major fundraiser for Webb (teacherken - 8/22/2006 10:53:31 PM)
I think the minimumis 1,000.  And it depends on whether you are doing both the reception and dinner or not.  This is the Virginia state Senate fund, to which the maximum you can contribute is something like 28,800...  in other words, this is outside of the 2100 per person FEC limit in the general, and the state party can use money on his Webbs's behalf. 

I am a poor school teacher -- I ain't going to this, and I'm not quite sure how I got on the invitation list.  But it does demonstrate that there is serious fundraising going on, even if it is not visible.

I read a report on dailykos that the attendance at the LA event a few weeks back was over 300 people.  I think the suggested minimum for that was also 1,000, although that was I think per couple.  Even so, if that is accurate, that is at least 150,000 at one eventy, and would expect actually much more - as I remember, the fundraiser with Mark Warner done before the primary raise something like 138,000, and that was not the kind of money available in California.

It is far too early for Kaine to actually be doing major campaigning for anyone.  Not enough people are yet paying attention.  But I think it is a pretty safe bet that all the big Virginia names (except perhaps Doug Wilder?) will be out actively campaigning for Webb as the time goes on.

Please note -- I have no idea what the actual cash figures are, and there will not be another FEC report until October.  Chuck Todd of Hotline once told me that for this to be a top tier race Webb would have to have raised at least 5 million by Labor Day.  That used to seem out of reach.  Since the campaig is keeping its cards very close to the chest, I would not be surprised to not only see that figure met, but possibly even exceed by several million.