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South Dakota’s Rounds is Top American Governor
(Angus Reid Global Scan) - South Dakota's Mike Rounds is the most popular governor in the United States, according to a 50-state poll conducted by SurveyUSA. 76 per cent of respondents in the Mount Rushmore State approve of the Republican's performance.
Republican Jodi Rell of Connecticut and fellow GOP member John Hoeven of North Dakota are next on the list with 75 per cent, followed by Republican John Huntsman of Utah with 72 per cent, Democrat Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming with 69 per cent, and Democrats Mark Warner of Virginia and Brian Schweitzer of Montana with 66 per cent each.
Democrat John Lynch of New Hampshire, Republican Dave Heineman of Nebraska and Republican Jim Douglas of Vermont complete the top ten.
The average approval rating for U.S. governors is 47 per cent. The lowest-ranked politicians are Republican Ernie Fletcher of Kentucky with 33 per cent, GOP member Arnold Schwarzenegger of California with 32 per cent, Republican Frank Murkowski of Alaska with 30 per cent, and GOP member Bob Taft of Ohio with 17 per cent.
Polling Data
Do you approve or disapprove of your governor's performance?
State | Name | Party | Approve | Disapprove |
South Dakota | Rounds, Mike | R | 76% | 20% |
Connecticut | Rell, Jodi | R | 75% | 21% |
North Dakota | Hoeven, John | R | 75% | 21% |
Utah | Huntsman, Jon | R | 72% | 23% |
Wyoming | Freudenthal, Dave | D | 69% | 24% |
Virginia | Warner, Mark | D | 66% | 26% |
Montana | Schweitzer, Brian | D | 66% | 27% |
New Hampshire | Lynch, John | D | 65% | 27% |
Nebraska | Heineman, Dave | R | 63% | 26% |
Vermont | Douglas, Jim | R | 65% | 30% |
North Carolina | Easley, Michael | D | 64% | 30% |
West Virginia | Manchin, Joe | D | 62% | 30% |
Hawaii | Lingle, Linda | R | 61% | 32% |
Georgia | Perdue, Sonny | R | 61% | 34% |
Nevada | Guinn, Kenny | R | 58% | 32% |
Kansas | Sebelius, Kathleen | D | 59% | 34% |
Arizona | Napolitano, Janet | D | 60% | 36% |
Oklahoma | Henry, Brad | D | 59% | 35% |
Idaho | Kempthorne, Dirk | R | 57% | 35% |
Alabama | Riley, Bob | R | 58% | 37% |
Arkansas | Huckabee, Mike | R | 58% | 38% |
Mississippi | Barbour, Haley | R | 58% | 39% |
New Mexico | Richardson, Bill | D | 57% | 38% |
South Carolina | Sanford, Mark | R | 55% | 39% |
Iowa | Vilsack, Tom | D | 55% | 40% |
Colorado | Owens, Bill | R | 54% | 42% |
New Jersey | Codey, Richard | D | 51% | 40% |
Minnesota | Pawlenty, Tim | R | 54% | 44% |
Rhode Island | Carcieri, Don | R | 52% | 42% |
Florida | Bush, Jeb | R | 53% | 44% |
Maryland | Ehrlich, Robert | R | 50% | 45% |
Massachusetts | Romney, Mitt | R | 51% | 46% |
Texas | Perry, Rick | R | 49% | 45% |
Tennessee | Bredesen, Phil | D | 48% | 48% |
Oregon | Kulongoski, Ted | D | 45% | 47% |
Pennsylvania | Rendell, Edward | D | 46% | 48% |
Wisconsin | Doyle, Jim | D | 46% | 48% |
Indiana | Daniels, Mitch | R | 45% | 49% |
Washington | Gregoire, Christine | D | 45% | 49% |
Delaware | Minner, Ruth | D | 45% | 50% |
New York | Pataki, George | R | 43% | 51% |
Louisiana | Blanco, Kathleen | D | 41% | 56% |
Maine | Baldacci, John | D | 40% | 56% |
Michigan | Granholm, Jennifer | D | 40% | 56% |
Illinois | Blagojevich, Rod | D | 36% | 56% |
Missouri | Blunt, Matt | R | 36% | 60% |
Kentucky | Fletcher, Ernie | R | 33% | 61% |
California | Schwarzenegger, Arnold | R | 32% | 65% |
Alaska | Murkowski, Frank | R | 30% | 65% |
Ohio | Taft, Bob | R | 17% | 79% |
U.S. Average | 47% | 48% |
Source: SurveyUSA
Methodology: Telephone interviews to 600 adult residents of each of the country's 50 states, conducted from Sept. 16 to Sept. 18, 2005. Margin of error for each state ranges from 3.8 to 4.1 per cent.