Pa. voters disapprove of Gov. Corbett
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) is underwater in new Quinnipiac University poll.
Pa. voters disapprove of Gov. Corbett
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
At midterm, Gov. Tom Corbett finds himself in the hole with Pennsylvania voters, who disapprove of the job he is doing 42 percent to 36 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday.
A strong negative rating from women and lackluster support among Republicans are driving the low approval rating. Women disapprove of Corbett’s performance 45 percent to 31 percent, while men narrowly give him a thumbs-up, 41 percent to 37 percent – a large gender gap.
By 51 percent to 31 percent, Pennsylvania voters say that Corbett, a Republican, does not deserve to be reelected. Only 49 percent of GOP voters would support him if the election ere held today.
"It’s halftime in Gov. Tom Corbett’s first term and if he were running a football team instead of a state, he’d fire his offensive coordinator,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Gov. Corbett has hit the 50 percent approval rating only once so far, mainly because of his bad grades from women.”
Corbett, who came into office in 2011 facing a $4.2 billion budget deficit, slashed spending for education and social-safety net programs in his first two budgets, while keeping his pledge not to raise taxes. He also generated controversy and earned scorn from many female voters when he supported a bill requiring that women get ultrasounds before having an abortion. Asked about this at a news conference, Corbett said that women who objected could “close their eyes.”
Pennsylvania voters disapprove 50 – 26 percent of the way Corbett has handled the Sandusky sex-abuse scandal at Penn State over the last few years. Yet 43 percent approve of the lawsuit Corbett has launched against the NCAA sanctions against the university’s football program, the poll found.
From January 22 – 27, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,221 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. Live interviewers called randomly selected land lines and cell phones.
Another hack politician elected to the Governor's Mansion in Harrisburg.Anybody who's surprised should get a brain scan. ALL state governments are corrupt; they're held over from colonial days. This country needs a federal government to establish laws for all US citizens and local (city, township, borough, village) elected bodies to establish local ordinances, police the streets, and fight fires. State Police? Why? Only more points of corruption. County government? Nonsense; nationalize the entire prison system. Local school boards? Stupid...that's what the kids in Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, and elsewhere become when the history books are re-written by right-wing, bible-thumping clods who insist the Earth is 6,000 years old and the Nazis never murdered 10 million people. In the age of instant communication and growing oppression by nincompoops and religious extremists, the political vestiges of the past are turning this once-great nation into a third-rate society with the military capacity to destroy the entire world a thousand times over. It must end before we end.— bbk713- While he is at it, Corbett should eliminate the minimum wage. Then, as Michelle Bachmann said, employers will hire LOTS more people because they can pay people whatever they want.— OnlySaneGuyLeftInTheRoom
- DEMONIZE, DEMONIZE. That 's all leftist liberals do to people who oppose their agenda. Unfortunately, it seems to be an effective tool in controlling the limited information, low thought capacity voters.— Pugh
- I'm glad to see that you're above demonizing people. — carl and sons
- Thanks for the balanced article. Typical joke of a reporter.— Phillies2008WSChamps
- He reported poll numbers. How is that biased?
Go back to fair and balanced Fox news. They will tell you what you need to hear to stay in your bubble.— carl and sons - The people who put this clown in office are now crying the blues
When you go into the voting booth and just pull the lever with out
doing any research on the candidate shows that these people are
Not very smart. Most republican politicians run promising to keep a
foot on the neck of those urban dwellers wink wink
But when that same foot starts to encroach on the airways of
the saltines who put them in ,Houston We Have A Problem— nat turner - 4.2 Billion dollar deficit when he came into Office. Thank You!, former Gov. Rendell. 1221 Registered Voters responded to this poll, so 513 do not approve and 440 do approve. That means 22 percent of the poll had no opinion, and the big deal here is 73 more people disapprove of the Governor. 73 people make this a story? Unbias reporting by the Inquirer ?— tlee
- I Never thought anybody could be a Bigger thief than Rendell , but This guy Corbett would Steal a Hot Stove , and come back when You were sleeping ,.......................... and Steal The Smoke , He also didn't help Our Local Welfare Drug addicts by taking away their payoff money from welfare ,...............Sure helped the Crime Rate go up .
Maybe the "Brits" need a New King , Jack , or a Ten of Hearts in their Royal Twithood .— oldsog67 - Two items rankle liberals 1. Corbett cut spending on education,but the idea that you get a better pupil performance from spending more money on students is not necessarily true, or even the idea that you will get better teachers.2. Social safety net programs,covers a lot of ground perhaps too much ground, seems rather than assume personal responsibility for a persons actions, it's easier to assume the "victims" status.— Jim Morris
- I think you are inaccurate, and I'm speaking as a liberal. You really don't get a liberal mindset at all. None of you all do, and that is mainly because you opt into assuming our thoughts instead of asking, and hmmmm, listening. This goes both ways, but I'm using use as this example. 1) Us liberals completely get that more money does not equate to better education. What needs to be addresses is the quality of education we put out. Something is going terribly wrong, and one this is that loss of a sense of community. No one is invested in trying to better the area they live in, including the school. 2) us liberals, shockingly to you, get the idea of individual responsibility, and fully embrace it. We also feel there is such a thing as mutual responsbility. Again, our social welfare programs also need to be looked at and reworked to create a system where the ppl receiving the support feel more empowered and confident they can do it because they system now, created by a Dem President and a GOP Congress in 1996, only creates dependency and not actually change for the better.
Everyone needs to think how to actually make a change instead of trying to belittle the other side or get the last, ridiculous, ineffective word in.— ejmak10 - One term Corpse-Bait...— ricciaje
- Maybe he can save the Philly Bike Race.— skippack_cyclist
- Lessee, he sold out to the Frikkin Frackers, and the LCB has not yet been privatized. Even with some minor cuts to BS social programs he won't get my vote.— moretoit
- 1221 people called, 22 percent expressed no opinion. Of the 952 people that gave an opinion 342 approve, 400 disapprove. 58 people (margin of error 2.8 percent) make this headline news worthy? No! Unless the newspaper is owned by a fundraiser for the Democratic Party. SHAME ON YOU.— tlee
You can reach Tom Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
Reach Thomas at tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
