Politics

More than half of Idahoans think GOP Gov. Butch Otter is doing a good job leading the state, a new Idaho Politics Weekly poll finds. Otter gets a 52 percent approval rating in the latest poll.

Otter’s approval rating is a little better than the Idaho Legislature’s. Usually, legislative bodies are much more disliked than government executives.

That’s not to say that Otter or the other top Republican officeholders are in political danger – for Idaho is a very Republican state and pollster Dan Jones & Associates finds all are doing well with their own party members.

Not surprisingly, Democratic President Barack Obama has tanked in his popularity in Idaho – only 33 percent approve of the job the president is doing, 65 percent disapprove. Nationally Obama gets around a 45-48 percent approval rating.

Jones has been polling monthly in Idaho for IPW for just over a year, and the results show a real partisan split between opinions of the majority Republicans and the minority Democrats.

That split is dramatized in the new job approval ratings for the GOP incumbents:

• Otter: All Idahoans, 52 percent approve of him, 41 percent disapprove, 7 percent don’t know; Republicans, 71 percent approve; Democrats, 22 percent approve.
• U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo: All Idahoans, 53 percent approve, 32 percent disapprove, 15 percent don’t know; Republicans, 65 percent approve; Democrats, 22 percent approve.
• U.S. Sen. Jim Risch: All Idahoans, 49 percent approve, 28 percent disapprove, 23 percent don’t know; Republicans, 64 percent approve; Democrats, 21 percent approve.
• Rep. Mike Simpson: All residents of his 2nd District, 54 percent approve; 32 percent disapprove, 14 percent don’t know; Republicans, 67 percent approve; Democrats, 46 percent approve.
• Rep. Raul Labrador: All residents of his 1st District, 45 percent approve, 34 percent disapprove; Republicans, 62 percent approve; Democrats, 12 percent approve.
• Idaho Legislature: All Idahoans, 47 percent approve of its job performance, 37 percent disapprove, 15 percent don’t know; Republicans, 62 percent approve; Democrats, 22 percent approve.

It’s always better to be above 50 percent for a politician’s job approval rating, says Jones, who has polled in the Mountain West for more than 40 years.

Thus, Risch’s 49 percent approval rating, Labrador’s 45 percent approval rating, and the Legislature’s 47 percent approval rating are not great news for them.

Labrador is a strong conservative, belonging to several very conservative caucuses in the U.S. House.

Simpson is considered more moderate, although still a conservative.

Thus it’s interesting to see that among all Republicans in his district, Labrador gets a 62 percent approval rating. But among those who told Jones they are “very conservative” politically, Labrador has a 71 percent approval rating.

Simpson is just the opposite. Among Republicans in his district, Simpson gets a 67 percent approval rating. But among the “very conservative,” his approval rating drops to 57 percent.

The right-wing enhances Labrador’s overall rating; but harms Simpson’s.

Finally, Idaho State Public Education Superintendent Sherri Ybarra has been in the news lately, suggesting some controversial changes in testing and other school operations.

So Jones wanted to measure her job approval ratings. He finds in the latest poll that a high number don’t know her. Some 37 percent of Idahoans approve of the job she’s doing, 25 percent disapprove and 38 percent don’t know.

Jones polled 621 Idahoans statewide from Jan. 21-31. The statewide margin of error is plus or minus 3.93 percent.

In the U.S. House 1st District, 321 were questioned, margin of error plus or minus 5.47 percent; the 2nd District, 291 sampled, margin of error plus or minus 5.74 percent.