New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch’s Approval Ratings

   Regular readers of this blog, and more directly regular readers of my New Hampshire posts already know that I have been searching for governor John Lynch’s approval ratings without success. Yesterday WMUR had the latest approval ratings for Representatives Carol Shea-Porter, and Paul Hodes. They made the claim that their approval ratings were good even though they are both below 40%. They also had a poll showing how Senator. Sunun would fare against the Democrat opponents who have announced they would run for the Democrat seat. They even showed how he would fare against a candidate who hasn’t decided whether or not she would run.

  Once again, no approval ratings for the governor. My theory has been that the numbers have gone down, so they just neglect to mention them. Governor Lynch was highly popular, then the Democrats gained control and a more liberal John Lynch appeared. And a more willing to tax and spend John Lynch. I believed that this would result in a drop in the polls.

  This morning I finally found his approval ratings on the internet, still no mention of them on the television, so here they are:

64% approve

20% disapprove

16% undecided

  That is a good number, and a number that most governors would love. However in January these were his numbers:

77% approve

6% disapprove

16% undecided.

  So his poll numbers have dropped 13% from January to the end of June.(This latest poll was from June 23rd through June 26th). I have to be honest, these numbers are not nearly as low as I thought(or hoped) they would be. But it could be showing us a growing discontent by New Hampshire voters in the direction New Hampshire is going.

  However, I am not feeling as confident in us changing the direction of New Hampshire in the next election as I once was. The reason for this is an apparent lack of knowledge by many New Hampshire voters. By lack of knowledge I mean that they don’t seem to be paying attention to what our elected officials are doing in our state. I say this using the following as my evidence. In the latest survey 28% of respondents didn’t know enough about Rep. Carol Shea-Porter to have an opinion of her. 36% of respondents didn’t know enough about Rep. Paul Hodes to have an opinion of him. The poll was conducted of VOTERS, not likely voters, or adults, but VOTERS.  These people voted for them and don’t know enough about them or what the are doing? I understand that these are US representatives and not state representatives, and that they do not directly affect the policies of the state, but you would like to believe that people pay attention to the people they vote for. 16% surveyed are undecided about the job governor Lynch has done. This is what I find amazing. I trully cannot understand how ANY voter in this state doesn’t have an opinion on the head of the state. Perhaps I will take the optimistic approach here and believe that these are former supporters who are now waivering in their support yet unready to disapprove of him just yet.

  Perhaps lack of knowledge is the wrong term, a better term may be just a general feeling of indifference.

  This, coupled with a recent survey showing 66% of undeclared voters are planning to vote in the Democrat primary. Undelcared voters are the largest voting block in New Hampshire, and usually it can be seen how New Hampshire will vote in a general election by how the undeclared voters swing the the primary election. Of course I can still try to be optimistic in approach here by hoping that these voters will be voting in the Democrat primary against one candidate they don’t want on the general election ticket, rather than for one candidate they really like. And then vote Republican in the general election. I don’t believe that’s the case.

  I have to plead ignorance on the other states election policies, but in New Hampshire you can cast a straight ticket ballot just by checking a single box at the top of the ballot rather than running down the list and checking off the names individually. I don’t believe that is the case in every state. I mention this because last November, in a war protest vote, a record number of straight ticket ballots were cast for Democrats. Apparently not realizing or caring what this would do to local politics. Voters still don’t seem to realize or care as judged by the amount of voters with no opinions in the recent surveys.

  Now with the two reasons I mentioned above (the lack of knowledge, or feeling of indifference,  and the number of undeclared voters planning to vote Democrat), it appears voters won’t hesitate to do the same next year in their haste to vote against any Republican presidential candidate.

  I am still holding out hope that governor Lynch’s lower approval numbers are a sign that New Hampshire will be ready to change direction by November ’08, if we see his numbers continue to fall.

  If you want to vote Democrat in the presidential election, fine. If you want to vote for the anti-war Carol Shea-Porter, and Paul Hodes fine. But I plead with New Hampshire voters to take the time to think and learn about the state and local politicians before you just go and vote straight ticket again. Our state officials have a greater impact on our communities and our values, and New Hampshire deserves for them to receive ample thought, and not to be voted for or against in an anti-war, anti-Bush frenzy.