Kate Brown has received some very positive national press in the four years since she reached the governor’s office in Oregon. In February 2017, for example, The New Yorker heralded her as “approachably fierce,” quoting an admirer who called her “a combination of Snoopy and Katniss Everdeen” -- the latter, in case you didn’t know, being the heroine in “The Hunger Games.”
Such encomiums haven’t helped her popularity in her home state, though. In fact, according to Morning Consult’s quarterly governor approval rankings, Brown is presently one of the least popular governors in the country, landing at number 47 out of 50.
This might surprise you if you’re a Democrat living in the Democratic stronghold of Multnomah County. But Oregon is a big state. And in this big state, Republicans really, really don’t like her. Independents aren’t so hot on her either.
Her net approval, according to the polling company, is +58 among Democrats. But this is more than offset by her -73 rating among Republicans and -12 among independents.
One takeaway from Morning Consult’s second-quarter 2019 ranking, which is an aggregation of its daily polling of more than 5,000 registered U.S. voters: Republican governors are generally more popular than their Democratic counterparts. In fact, the country’s 14 most popular governors are all Republicans, with Charlie Baker, the GOP chief executive of the majority-Democratic state of Massachusetts, coming in first place.
The most popular Democratic governor is Steve Bullock, from the very Republican state of Montana. He’s running for president right now, but he’s far back in the large pack of Democratic White House contenders.
The average net approval rating for Democratic governors is +11, according to Morning Consult. For Republicans governors, it is +28.
Kate Brown, at -4 overall, falls well below the Democratic average. Earlier this month, the Oregon Republican Party launched an effort to recall her from office.
The three governors in the U.S. who are less popular right now than Oregon’s: Democrat Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island is 48th on the list, followed by Connecticut’s Democratic governor, Ned Lamont. Republican Matt Bevin of Kentucky comes in last place.
Check out Morning Consult’s governor rankings.
-- Douglas Perry
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