AZ
Elected Officials Widely Approved
In
an effort to assess the opinions held
by local business, community and art
leaders on various issues, the Valley
Influentials Poll surveys members
of Valley Leadership, East Valley
Partnership, Westmarc and Greater
Phoenix Leadership.
The
poll measured Valley leaders’
approval rating of the following
elected officials: Attorney General
Terry Goddard, Governor Janet
Napolitano, Senator John McCain,
Senator John Kyl and President George
W. Bush.
When rating the job
performance of various elected
officials, Attorney General Terry
Goddard, Governor Janet Napolitano and
Senator John McCain are this year’s
favorite elected officials, each with
wide bipartisan support.
President George W. Bush is at
the bottom of the pack, while the
reception for County Attorney Rick
Romley and Senator John Kyl is more
positive, but more muted.
Attorney
General Terry Goddard Doing Well
After
excluding the 15% of respondents
unable to rate his performance, Terry
Goddard boasts the highest overall
approval rating.
An impressive 91% of Valley
leaders feel he is doing his job well.
His appeal is broad, with 95%
of Democrats and 85% of Republicans
approving, and 92% of women and 90% of
men approving.
His current approval rating is
comparable to his approval at this
same time last year (87%).
Favorable
Ratings for Governor Napolitano
Not
only is Governor Napolitano’s
awareness rating high, with 97% of
Valley leaders able to rate her job
performance, her approval rating is
also based on near universal
recognition.
A full 86% of Valley leaders
approve of the way Janet Napolitano is
doing her job.
Putting partisan differences
aside, three-quarters (75%) of
Republican respondents approve of
Governor Napolitano’s current job
performance.
Men and women both approve of
Governor Napolitano, though approval
among women is modestly greater (81%
men vs. 91% women).
Governor Napolitano’s overall
approval rating (86%) is modestly
greater than it was last year (81%).
Approval
Boost for John McCain
Of
the six elected officials measured,
Senator John McCain’s approval
rating saw the greatest increase from
its 2003 level.
In 2003, Senator McCain
received the approval of a hearty 74%
of Valley leaders.
Since then, his approval rating
has soared even higher, and now a full
85% of Valley leaders approve of his
job performance.
Similar to Governor
Napolitano’s appeal, Senator John
McCain also receives strong support
from both sides.
A full 81% of Democrats and 91%
of Republican approve of his current
job performance.
It should be noted that the
increase in Senator McCain’s
approval from 2003 to 2004 is entirely
attributable to increased approval
among Democrats; Republican’s
approval of Senator McCain has
remained constant.
Ratings
for Rick Romley and Kyl Only Slightly
Lower
County
Attorney Rick Romley is supported by
69% of the 88% of respondents able to
rate his job performance.
Unlike Attorney General Terry
Goddard, Governor Janet Napolitano and
Senator John McCain, Romley does not
have strong support from both parties.
County Attorney Rick Romley’s
approval comes mainly from his fellow
Republicans, 80% of whom approve of
his job performance compared to only
59% of Democrats.
Rick Romley’s approval rating
is comparable to its 2003 level (72%).
Senator
John Kyl has the approval of 69% of
Valley leaders. This figure remains virtually unchanged from 2003 (66%).
Similar to Maricopa County
Attorney Rick Romley, Senator Kyl does
not draw strong bipartisan support.
While a full 89% of Republicans
approve of the way he handles does his
job, the proportion of Democrats who
approve is less than half this figure
(42%).
Approval
for President Bush Low
According
to the poll, President George W. Bush
is the lowest rated elected official.
Fewer that two-fifths of
respondents (38%) approve of the way
he is doing his job.
There is a dramatic partisan
tilt to his support.
The proportion of Republicans
approving of President Bush’s job
performance (68%) far exceeds the
proportion of approving Democrats
(8%).
In addition, male Valley
leaders are modestly more pleased with
his performance than are female
leaders (43% male vs. 34% female).
At
this same time last year, President
Bush was also the lowest rated elected
official with only 56% approving.
This year, however, not only is
he the lowest rated elected official,
his current approval rating is a full
18-percentage points below his
approval in July of 2003.
Levels of awareness varied for each of the
elected officials, and ranged from 97%
able to rate Governor Janet
Napolitano’s job performance and
President George W. Bush’s
performance to a notably reduced 85%
able to rate the performance of
Attorney General Terry Goddard.
The differing levels of
awareness likely reflect the differing
degrees of public visibility of each
elected post.
The different awareness levels
of Senator McCain and Senator Kyl are
good examples of this. Awareness of Senator McCain (96%) is extremely high,
undoubtedly attributable to his
national media coverage.
Senator Kyl, on the other hand
simply does not receive the same level
of coverage, and consequently
awareness of him (86%), while still
high, is notably lower.
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