INDReporter

Jindal doesn't ‘govern according to polls'

by Walter Pierce

Gov. Bobby Jindal, down about 20 points in the public's esteem from a couple of years ago including a precipitous 10 points since the spring, is dismissing the results of the Southern Media and Opinion Research poll.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, down about 20 points in the public's esteem from a couple of years ago including a precipitous 10 points since the spring, is dismissing the results of the Southern Media and Opinion Research poll commissioned by conservative Baton Rouge businessman Lane Grigsby, telling New Orleans' WWL radio, "[w]e don't govern according to polls," and touting his own numbers:

"You look at the performance of Louisiana compared to the south and nationally: one of only two states in the south with Texas that has more jobs than before this national recession started," Jindal said.  "Per-capita income, our ranking's now at an 80-year high.  In this state our per-capita income's actually gone up."
The poll, released this week, shows the second-term GOP governor with a lower approval rating than Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, a somewhat surprising result in a state that leans heavily Republican.

The poll had Timmy Teepell, Jindal's former chief of staff, dismissing the poll's validity based in large part of the relatively narrow margin separating Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama: 45-39 percent. Teepell told the Times-Picayune: "Any poll in Louisiana that has Obama within six points of Romney I don't take seriously."