Michigan’s Rick Snyder 4th Most-Unpopular Governor In U.S.

Dogged by the Flint water crisis, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has one of the highest disapproval ratings of any governor in the country, according to the new Morning Consult Governor Approval rankings released Tuesday. Fifty-four percent of Michiganders disapprove of the job Michigan’s Republican governor is doing, while only 40 percent approve, according to evaluations of his performance conducted from January to March.

The least popular governor in the country is New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, who got only a 25 percent approval rating from residents of his state. The most popular governors are Republicans serving in traditionally blue states: Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, with a 75 percent approval rating, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, with a 73 percent approval rating.

Snyder’s approval rating is significantly higher than the second- and third-least popular governors: Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican with an approval rating of only 27 percent, and Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy, a Democrat with an approval rating of only 29 percent.

Snyder, who has come under the national microscope for his handling of the Flint water crisis, is gaining standing among Michiganders. In September, the same poll showed that 61 percent of Michiganders disapproved of of the job he is doing, compared with 33 percent who approved of his performance.

A year ago, Snyder was the third-least popular governor with an approval rating of only 32 percent, below Brownback and Malloy, but higher than Christie, who at the time had a 36 percent approval rating.

Snyder’s lowest approval ratings came during congressional testimony on the Flint debacle. He said all levels of government — local, state and federal — had “failed the families of Flint,” and said “not a day goes by that this tragedy doesn’t weigh on my mind.”

Lawmakers, however, pointed out that repeated emails about the problems in Flint were ignored by top state officials for more than a year before Snyder addressed the issue. Shortly after Flint switched its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River, residents began complaining of discolored, particle-filled tap water, which was later discovered to have been caused by lead leaching from the pipes.

To arrive at the governors’ popularity rankings, Morning Consult surveyed more than 85,000 registered voters in America on an online poll that also measured the performance of President Donald Trump, their U.S. senators, their congressional representative and their mayor (if they lived in a city with a population of more than 10,000 residents). You can read more about the methodology here and see the full rankings here.

Gov. Rick Snyder, (R-MI), listens to members comments during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, about the Flint, Michigan water crisis, on Capitol Hill March 17, 2016 in Washington, D.C. The committee is examining how lead ended up in the public drinking water in Flint. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty News Images/Getty Images)