INDReporter

Public souring on Jindal?

by Walter Pierce

A new poll suggests that even as Gov. Bobby Jindal is literally flying high - in a jet - crisscrossing the country to promote his new book and raise cash, his approval rating among Louisiana voters is coming back to earth. A new poll suggests that even as Gov. Bobby Jindal is literally flying high - in a jet - crisscrossing the country to promote his new book and raise cash, his approval rating among Louisiana voters is coming back to earth.

The poll by Southern Media & Opinion Research finds the governor with a pedestrian 55 percent approval rating. That's down sharply from the robust 68 percent rating Jindal enjoyed in the spring of 2009, and with a poll by the same firm last May showing he had dipped to 61 percent, a descending pattern of the governor's popularity emerges. More troubling perhaps from the most recent poll is the governor's unfavorable rating - 43 percent, up sharply from the 30 percent registered a year and a half ago.

The Times-Picayune's take: "He's not unpopular, even though his negatives grew ... He's not at any great risk of getting voted out of office next year, particularly since there's no major Democratic contender in sight. ...The overall message ... is more that Jindal is no longer, well, special."

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