Voters hate Gov. Sam Brownback; never mind, they love him
President Barack Obama doesn’t officially have a Republican opponent yet. The trio of Missouri Republicans hoping to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill have yet to sift out a challenger. And our local members of Congress have yet to even start the real campaign work. Nonetheless, poll fatigue is already upon us.
In a span of one week – one freaking week – Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has seen his approval numbers swing from 34 percent (with 44 percent disapproval) to 51 percent approval (with 44 percent disapproval) in two polls. Keep in mind that Brownback isn’t even up for re-election this year.
The poll with the lower approval was conducted by SurveyUSA and sampled 501 registered voters. That’s a lower approval rate than Obama has in the state. The Kansas City Star reported today that another poll pegged Brownback at 51 percent approval. The Star reports that Brownback’s allies suspect that the first poll “under-sampled Republicans and Tea Party backers.”
Of course, Kansas Democrats say the numbers show a trend in the erosion of Brownback’s support.
“Right after he was elected, he was unassailable. And after he started cutting the Arts Council and introducing some of his plans that would cut the budgets and began moving through his agenda, his popularity began to fade,” Kansas Democratic Party Chair Joan Wagnon told The Pitch this afternoon. “And it’s not so much that people don’t like the governor; they just don’t like what he’s doing.”
Hooray, election season!
