Talk Elections

Hilarious and so deserved - a 22% approval rating for old Lincoln - http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/02/23/chafee_very_unpopular_in_rhode_island.html (http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/02/23/chafee_very_unpopular_in_rhode_island.html)

Why so low?

I know he was only elected with 36%, but still...

What the hell did he do?

He has no base on either side.

Mind you this is a excellent/good/fair/poor poll not an approval rating poll. So hes probably actually in the 30s as far as approval gos. Which still sucks of course.

Still what has done to derseve such approvals? He seems inoffensive and quiet compared other unpopular Governors like Scott or Malloy.

I'm not that familiar with his term as governor, but my guess is that he has no natural base to support him.  Republicans aren't fond of him because he "abandoned the party" and is a liberal and a lot of issues, and democrats don't like him because he used to be a Republican and from what little research I have done it looks like he made major (in my opinion necessary) cuts to the budget that may anger democrats.  In addition his fight with the legislature or members of the legislature (again not intimately familiar with the issue) in December over calling the government "Christmas Tree" a "Holiday Tree" may not have gone over well in an largely Catholic state.
*Just a side note- the latest polls on Malloy show him with a +5 approval rating (50 approve- 45 disapprove- Rasmussen Reports)

I can assure you Malloy has a rather negative image in Connecticut, a poll is just a poll. However, don't be surprised if Chafee gets a spot in the Obama administration rather than run for reelection.

So this is what happens when a third-party candidate gets elected to statewide office. :/

I'm disappointed to see this.  I supported him for the election.

It reminds me a little bit of Lowell Weicker in sharper relief.

Also a terrible economy and endemic corruption that doesn't hit him personally but doesn't make people feel good about government.

Considering his outspoken support for Obama, perhaps he could get the Democratic nomination in 2014, and the Governor's Mansion of Rhode Island would be (again) within reach for Republicans.

Or maybe I'm just kidding myself.

There was an article in politico saying that Gov. O'Malley has offered him to join the Democrats multiple times, but Chaffee has refused saying that he is happy to be where he is and intends to remain an independent.

22%?  wow, Rhode Islanders are very generous.

But, I agree w/ Phil..well deserved :)

Can't wait till he's out of office come 2015. The man is an even more annoying moderate hero than Snowe.

Not even close to Taft.

Nah, third party candidates (Ventura, King, Sanders) can be effective and popular politicians in their states. Chafee does have two years to recover but he needs to carve out a base.

Give him another two months.

So, there's 22% of Rhodies who are either stupid, ignorant, evil or perhaps two or more of the those!

STOP LIKING POLITICIANS I DON'T LIKE!

...seriously? There's no way that you can conceive of that somebody could approve of a politician you don't without being stupid, ignorant, or evil? I don't even say that about people who approve of Jim Inhofe, even though I'm genuinely baffled as to why anybody would.

Saged, reported, called the cops, etc.

Have you really interacted with CARLHAYDEN yet? I can't remember.

22% isn't far from 12%.

Um, Chafee's approval rating is 83% higher than Taft's.

...

Taft had a -61% approval rating?

I have but I'm always newly amazed.

He's probably talking about Taft's rating in proportion to Chafee's.

As in: Person A has an approval rating of 30%, Person B has an approval rating of 45%. Therefore, Person B has 50% higher approval; 45:30 = 1.5

Chafee's heavy disapproval is exactly because of the reasons already given:

1) he has no base. he was elected with 36% of the vote almost entirely from liberal democrats who were sick of caprio (the dem nominee) bashing obama, telling him to "shove" his endorsement. even in a state like RI, with a lot of blue collar/catholic dems, that didnt go over well, in addition to independents who didn't hate chafee's tenure as senator.

2) the "holiday tree" BS. never mind that his predecessor, carcieri, ALSO called it a holiday tree. talk radio in RI (with 2 right-wing morning/afternoon hosts, and a centrist-right leaning former mayor of providence and convicted felon, buddy cianci, mocking him for days about it). talk radio in RI loves to mock chafee, it's like a sport.

3) he pissed off democrats by advocating union pension reform -- which WAS necessary, as much as it pains me to say. to chafee's credit, he didn't go on bashing teachers like the rest of republicans do in RI.

4) 11% unemployment in rhode island. dysfunctional state government. I can't believe this state sometimes, it makes New York look like a political Eden.


As an aside, my dad worked on Ken Block's campaign, the "Moderate Party" nominee. He got 5 or 6 percent.

RI usually goes for a Moderate Republican governor. Chafee is more liberal than the Moderate Republicans that usually get voted in in RI I guess.

Does Rhode Island allow recalls?

Here in California, we have the 2nd highest unemployment rate. 62% say the state is on the wrong track, versus only 30% that say it is going in the right direction. And yet Jerry Brown still has a decent 45-38 rating.

Rick Scott is reasonably popular nowadays.

Reasonably? He's at 36%. That's 16 points below his disapprove rating. He is by no means popular (see the new organization Pink Slip Rick, and the semi-common nickname "Governor Voldemort").

Other polls have shown him doing quite a bit better.

http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/gov-rick-scott-still-unpopular-approval-inches-new-timesheraldbay-news-9-poll

More than four in 10 Florida voters, 43 percent, approve of Scott's job performance a year into his first term; 47 percent disapprove; while 10 percent are not sure.

That poll's from Jan. 30. One from March 28th by Quinnipiac has him at 36% approve.

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/presidential-swing-states-%28fl-oh-and-pa%29/release-detail?ReleaseID=1727 (http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/presidential-swing-states-%28fl-oh-and-pa%29/release-detail?ReleaseID=1727)

Ventura was actually very unpopular when he left office and Sanders is basically a Democrat in everything but name.

"Pox on both your houses" independents are rarely very successful.

Yes, that's the whole reason Ventura didn't run for re-election.

For another example, see the gubernatorial term of Lowell Weicker.

One really wonders who these 36% or 43% of Floridians are, considering Scott is objectively a felon in every sense but the legal nicety of limited liability.

Well, given his lack of popularity, he's had to take drastic measures. His website (rickscottforflorida.com (http://rickscottforflorida.com)) actually has an area (Email a Newspaper Editor) where you can send an form letter to a newspaper editor, because regular Floridians simply won't do that. But as to who supports him: not liberal arts majors, especially anthropologists.

Well, a majority of Florida voters did vote for him despite his criminal record. Florida voters need to have some sense beat into them.

Well not a majority. Not that 48% of Florida voters voting for a felon involved in millions of dollars of fraud is much better.

Thats because he ran against the income tax and than implented it as Governor. I heard the people of Connecticut were very mad at him for that at that time. He barely passed the income tax. It took a vote from the LT. Governor at the time to pass the income tax. In the CT. State House the vote was close (75-73.) Weicker's unpopularity started the whole Rowland/Rell era. The couple posters on here from Connecticut know more about this than I do. I'm from NJ myself.

Ventura, King and Sanders are some combination of charismatic or quirky. Lincoln Chafee is as bland as baked chicken at a country club dinner party. He's benefited from a lot of name recognition (his dad was a Rockefeller Republican Senator for several decades before he died and his son was appointed to replace him). I remember reading an article about his '06 re-election campaign that talked about how he just sort of stood off to the side at a campaign meet-and-greet and didn't really interact with anybody.