Poll: Republicans Like Their Governors. Democrats Don’t.

Republican voters across the country trust their governors more than their representatives in Washington, D.C., in stark contrast with Democrats who have lost faith in their governors and look to Congress for results, according to a poll released Tuesday.

According to the poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group/Convention of States Action, 63 percent of Republicans trust Republican governors and state legislators to “[defend] the rights and [promote] the issues [they] care about.” Only 22 percent have that same trust in Republicans in Congress. The situation is almost the exact opposite for Democrats: 64 percent of them trust President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats, but only 14 percent trust Democratic governors and legislators.

The poll also found that 52 percent of independents who have voted in a primary trust Republicans either at the state or federal level, and 41 percent trust Democrats.

The poll comes during a rocky period for Democratic governors across the country. New York’s Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation Tuesday after a report documented 11 women’s allegations of sexual harassment against him. And California’s Gavin Newsom faces a September recall election with low poll numbers, apathy from Democratic voters, and a strong challenge from Republican contender Larry Elder. Both men govern solid-blue states but have seen their popularity decrease throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

Media efforts to vilify Republican governor Ron DeSantis of Florida for his COVID-19 policies, meanwhile, appear to have been ineffective, with polls consistently ranking DeSantis one of the most popular governors in the country.

The Atlanta-based Trafalgar Group, which conducted the poll, is best known for accurately predicting a Donald Trump victory in the 2016 presidential election. It inaccurately predicted a Trump victory in the 2020 election.

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