[333] Wide majority continue to approve of Haslam's job performance

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                            CONTACTS:

March 7, 2013                                               Ken Blake, Ph.D., MTSU Poll Director (615) 210-6187

                                                Jason Reineke, Ph.D., MTSU Poll Associate Director (615) 494-7746

                                                                                                                                                                              

Support softer for state legislature, though plurality approve

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Tennesseans continue to approve of how Gov. Bill Haslam is handling his job — 61 percent approve as opposed to only 15 percent who disapprove, a margin of more than 4-to-1, according to the latest MTSU Poll.

Furthermore, support for Haslam, a Republican, is broad-based with even a narrow majority of the state’s self-identified Democrats, 51 percent, saying that they approve of the job he is doing as governor as opposed to 25 percent who disapprove.

Even larger majorities of Republicans (67 percent) and Independents (69 percent) approve of the job Haslam is doing as governor.

“Two years into his tenure as governor, Bill Haslam continues to earn high marks from Tennesseans,” said Dr. Jason Reineke, associate director of the poll at Middle Tennessee State University. “Haslam’s blend of solution-oriented pragmatism and even-handed treatment of contentious social issues seems to have solidified a broad base of support across party lines.”

Support for the Tennessee General Assembly is softer, though a 48 percent plurality approve of the job it is doing as opposed to only 23 percent who disapprove. The remaining 29 percent either don’t know or refuse to answer the question.

“The relatively high number of ‘don’t know’ responses, less than resounding plurality of approval, and lack of clear, meaningful patterns in support across political party, gender, or racial lines seem to indicate that the state legislature is flying below the public’s radar, so to speak,” Reineke said.

Poll data were collected from Feb. 11–19 via telephone interviews of 650 Tennessee adults conducted by Issues and Answers Network Inc. using balanced, random samples of Tennessee landline and cell phones. The data were weighted to match the latest available Census estimates of gender and race proportions in Tennessee.

- 30 -