SurveyUSA’s monthly tracking poll for the job approval ratings of President Bush, Governor Perry, and U.S. senators Hutchison and Cornyn show improvements for all except Cornyn. The poll surveyed 600 adults (not necessarily likely voters) and has a margin of error of +/- 4%.
Bush hit an all-time low in Texas in December, with a 38% job approval rating and a 59% disapproval. He improved slightly in January to 40% job approval and 58% disapproval. His biggest problem was with females (43% approval, 55% disapproval).
Perry’s approval rating climbed four points since December, when he had a 41 percent approval rating and a 53% disapproval. In the new poll, Perry is at 45% approval, 52% disapproval. The number that stands out concerning Perry is that his approval rating among Hispanics is 53%, 9 points higher than it is among whites.
Kay Bailey Hutchison continues to have the best numbers of any Texas politician. She is the only one of the foursome whose job approval rating is better than 50% (59% approve, 32% disapprove). In December, she had 58% approval and 34% disapproval.
John Cornyn has a 44% approval rate and 42% disapproval. This represents a significant slip since December, when Cornyn had a 47% approval rating amd 39% disapproval.
The number that jumped out at me was was how poorly all of the Republicans performed in Harris County:
Hutchison: 39% approval, 49% disapproval
Bush: 35% approval, 64% disapproval
Cornyn 27% approval, 58% disapproval
Perry: 23% approval, 69% disapproval
What is going on down there in Houston? Did SurveyUSA just get a weird sample of respondents? Did somebody slip something into the water? Or is Harris County getting a lot more Democratic?
