Ringside Politics With A Punch

While the hoopla over the legislative pay raise was grabbing headlines, the popularity of Governor Bobby Jindal declined significantly. Prior to the controversy, Southern Media and Opinion Research reported that Jindal enjoyed positive approval ratings from 79% of the electorate. After becoming embroiled in the pay raise issue, Jindal dipped to an approval rating of 59%. Now, a new poll conducted by pollster Wes Anderson of OnMessage, Incorporated, shows Jindal has regained about half of the support he lost during the flare-up over the legislative pay raise controversy. The poll found that Jindal has a 69% favorability rating among the voters, ranking among the top of all the Governors in the nation. His unfavorable rating was only 18%, while 13% had no opinion and responded they did not know. The poll sampled the views of 600 statewide voters and had a margin of error of 3.5%. It was conducted July 14 and 15.