Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker may have legalized recreational marijuana and ushered in a massive capital plan in his first year, but a Morning Consult poll finds he’s the eighth most unpopular governor in the country.
While Pritzker’s approval rating has remained relatively steady, his disapproval rating has climbed, the poll found.
Earlier this year, a Morning Consult poll found his favorability at 44%, with the latest poll clocking him at 43%. His disapproval rating has grown from 35% earlier this year to 42%. Unsurprisingly, the disapproval is coming from Republicans, who watched the political newcomer rush in a bevy of progressive measures, including his push for a graduated income tax question on the 2020 ballot. Of those polled, 14% said they were undecided.
With a massive budget and capital plan finalized — not to mention the legalization of marijuana, gambling expansion and the strengthening of the state’s abortion laws — the rookie governor notched big victories during his first go-around in Springfield.
And while it was Pritzker who pushed many of these policies along, he was also operating with a Democratic supermajority in both chambers — the very lawmakers who watched in horror as public universities and social services became decimated amid a war with former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
The poll measured the most popular and unpopular governors by total approval and total disapproval, with the net approval — approval minus disapproval — serving as the tiebreaker.
The most popular governor in the country, according to the poll, is Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker. The rest of the popular list includes all Republican governors.
The most unpopular governor is Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, with a 36% approval rating and a 56% disapproval rating, the poll found. The top 10 unpopular list includes six Democrats and four Republicans.
Morning Consult conducted 533,985 nationwide surveys with registered voters from July 1 through Sept. 30. The margin of error for Illinois was plus or minus 1%, and 21,533 registered Illinois voters were polled.
