Approval Of Kemp's Handling Of Coronavirus Outbreak Plunges: Poll

GEORGIA — After an increasing number of Georgians gave a thumbs-up to Gov. Brian Kemp for his handling of the coronavirus in late June, the governor's approval rating dipped again in late August. That's according to a recent poll conducted jointly by Northeastern University, Harvard University, Rutgers University, and Northwestern University.

Maryland and four other states — Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Vermont — with Republican governors who have taken a more aggressive stance in managing the pandemic have a very different partisan pattern in approval. In those five states, approval for the Republican governor among Democrats and Republicans has consistently been high, remarkably, averaged across the five states, a bit higher among Democrats (72 percent) than Republicans (71 percent), the poll showed.

That is not the case for Kemp, whose polling approval has declined nearly 20 points since April. In the remaining 21 states with Republican governors, approval is especially polarized, at 64 percent among Republicans (dropping 13 points since April), and 25 points among Democrats (dropping 22 points).

The four universities have been tracking approval ratings for governors in all 50 states since late April, about a month after the outbreak began. Kemp's numbers initially were modest, rebounding slightly in June and dropping again in the past two months.

Here are the percentage of people who have approved or strongly approved of Kemp's performances:

• Late April: 53 percent.

• Early May: 33 percent.

• Late May: 35 percent.

• Late June: 43 percent.

• Late July: 36 percent.

• Late August: 36 percent.

That puts Kemp below the average 48 percent approval rating a majority of governors received.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan scored the strongest marks in the nation in late July when 76 percent of residents said they approved of the way he was handling the virus, The Hill reported. In Vermont, 75 percent like the way Gov. Phil Scott (R) is handling his state’s outbreak. Seventy-one percent of New Yorkers and Rhode Islanders approve of Govs. Andrew Cuomo (D) and Gina Raimondo (D), respectively. And Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) is seen in a positive light by 70 percent of those in the state.

Kemp and other governors who raced to reopen their economies, or never truly shut them down in the first place, had hot spots flourish in their states this summer, places where the virus is spreading virtually unchecked. And their poll numbers reflect the unhappiness voters have over those decisions.

After a spike the previous week, the number of newly confirmed coronavirus infections at the University of Georgia is coming back down. The university reported only 421 new cases of COVID-19 from Sept. 7 through Sept. 13, according to campus newspaper The Red & Black.

The previous week the University of Georgia drew statewide attention when it reported 1,417 cases of COVID-19 as students returned to Athens.

The Georgia Department of Public Health in Atlanta reported a total of 299,056 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at 2:50 p.m. Wednesday. According to the health department's website, that includes 2,265 newly confirmed cases over the last 24 hours.

Georgia also reported 6,419 deaths so far from COVID-19, with 24 more deaths recorded in the last 24 hours. In addition, the state reported 26,884 hospitalizations — 219 more than the day before — and 4,912 admissions so far to intensive-care units.

The lowest-polling governor in the country, Republican Kim Reynolds of Iowa, received only 26 percent support for dealing with the outbreak; she has refused to require face masks and is fighting in court with school districts that want to have online only classes.

A common factor among the most popular governors is they issued mandates ordering residents to wear masks in public, The Hill said. Twelve of the 15 most popular governors have issued mask mandates and just two of the 16 least popular governors — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) — issued mandates.

President Trump, who started from a much lower point, has lost ground from his high point of approval of 38 percent in late April, the poll said. Trump's approval rating in Georgia since the start of the outbreak:

• Late April: 46 percent.
• Early May: 42 percent.
• Late May: 35 percent.
• Late June: 42 percent.
• Late July: 38 percent
• Late August: 35 percent.

See the entire poll results here.