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.
charleycarey,look at philly,being run by a den of thieves,and a left-wing democrat party and union thugs.murders and mayhem destroying the northeast,a school system rivaling a third world country,and luckily for the law abiding taxpapyers of PA we have corbett to clean up your mess.— seanmike- Everybody has to cinch their belt a liittle tighter under Gov. Corbett except, of course, if you are a Natural Gas drilling company. But after all, they did donate $800K to his campaign.— mark1161
- Geeee, what a shock! I could of told you this during the election! Yeah, blame Rendell when the state legislature during his 2 terms were GOP controlled. Keep voting Repiglican Pa. You ain't seen nothing yet.— Kolitz
- To be blunt, both sides um, suck. Rendell was to busy trying to get his mug on Comcast Sportsnet, and Corbett, as AG was to busy turning a blind eye to child rape at PSU.
Rendell left a nice mess behind, while Corbett played footsie with the gas shale folks & passed up a pretty rich revenue stream for the state.
Corbett claims he hasn't raised taxes, but he's just done that by proxy. Seen your school tax bill lately? This is the classic bait & switch that all the politicians in PA pull.
Don't pay attention to what's going on in Harrisburg, look at this shiny thing I'm dangling over here.
Judging by the way you people bicker about it, they're doing a pretty good job of it....— Bill8339 - Bill8339:
Bravo!
You do tell it like it is!— EIK - Corbett has been a disgrace to the Republican Party. Save the Governor's House to a TRUE Republican.....ELECT Bruce Castor in the Primary over Corbett!— PhillyTerm
- add me to the pctg against him. he is a snake in the grass.— black dog
- It said that women don't support Corbett, is that some of the single parent women that need the goverment to house feed and school their children because their baby's daddy doesn't take responsiblity and they expect the taxpayers too!! I will vote for Corbett again— dianeoc
- PA voters have such short memories - the state under Dems was a spend fest, fueled by ever increasing taxes. Yeah, lets go back to that. And for all you whining about the cuts in school funding, Rendell ran up the school funding by 30% during his tenure. We get no better performance spending more but the unions are happier), so why not have a fiscally sane school budget? Lastly, our state IS benefiting from the new energy business - jobs and taxes paid. But you Dems would rather kill the golden goose and tax and regulate them into oblivion to make yourselves feel better. I'll be one of those ladies voting FOR Gov Corbett.— GeorgieGirl9
- All I have to say about our governor is HORRIBLE....— AuthorRtorressadler
- Let's all check facts here:
1. Fast Eddie spent state funds like a pot head in a mini market
2. The Marcellus Shale exploration has brought in hundreds of millions per year in state funds and created jobs - I'd hate to see where we'd be without it as PA would really be broke and unemployment would be much higher.
3. The Governor did not create the Penn State mess, Jerry Sandusky and the leaders at Penn State did.
4. Corbett's personality and bad PR team has hurt him big-time. He needs to be more proactive, outgoing, and honest.
5. The Philly Region is very uneducated in the oportunities from US Shale Development. We've already had the refineries re-open due to it, new ships being built to move US Crude, new rails being built to move oil & gas, and an new industrial revolution on it's way once PA ethane crackers are built (leading to new companies coming into PA). Let alone gas-to-liquids plants, exporting opportunities in Philly, cheaper/cleaner fuel, and much more. I wish people could understand these opportunities - but nothing from the Gov, Mayor Nutter, or journalists to help educate the masses.— Dish - The Only Jobs brought to Pa. by The "Marcellus Gas Rush" were Non-Union scab Hillbillies from The Ozarks , and beyond , and the Only Money they brought to the Pa. Treasury was the Fines , and Costs from Their D.U.I. convictions , and The "Chesapeake Energy" Donation money from his pal "Aubrey" went straight to Corbett's Private Charity ,......Himself , He Cares Not for Anyone who is below The $1 ,000.00 per person Donation list , and The Poor can Eat Cake out of His Trash .
That is Coming from a Moderate Republican with His Eyes open !
Me .— oldsog67 - I have been bringing an issue to the attention of different state and federal officials for sometime now and just keep getting pinballed around ! The city of Lancaster,Pa. needs a federal investigation over the way certain juvenile cases are being handled by the police and ignored by mayor and city council calls happenings.The whole story would take at least an hr. of someones time but to start with Lancaster,Pa. police deny underaged children the right to have a parent or lawyer at an interrogation.I have paperwork that the fed court in Philly wants them investigated but no one will take responsibility!— annette prelle
- Everyone does know that this paper is owned by bigshot democrats who can write whatever they want because they don't have to prove it with facts anymore. Also they are totally anti middle class after what they've written about city workers and how they've treated their own union workers. How can anyone believe anything this paper publishes?— gemini48
- I'll take Corbett and his head down approach to government any day of the week to avoid that back-slapping, fast talking Fast Eddie who left us with a mountain of debt... I don't care if it looks like Corbett took money for vacations [which he has since paid back] and I don't care if he guts the public employees' pension [they're getting too much money already] and I don't care what he does with Penn State... he keeps his head down, he doesn't talk much and he does his job, the job he was elected to do...— hotstuff
You can reach Tom Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
Reach Thomas at tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
