Poll Finds Oregon Governor Tina Kotek Faces Lowest Approval Rating Among All Governors At 45%

It’s one thing to be governor and have a low approval rating; all politicians make their mistakes, and even if they have a stellar record, you can’t expect everyone to like you. It’s a complete other thing, however, to have the lowest approval rating of any governor in the country.

That’s what Oregon Governor Tina Kotek has faced in the past and continues to face right now. At least, that’s what a new poll says, released on Monday by research technology company Morning Consult. It was conducted between April 1st and June 30th using samples of registered voters in each state, allowing us to compare and contrast between governors. It holds a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points.

According to the quarterly poll, only 45% of Oregonians approved of Kotek’s job performance. Believe it or not, this is actually an improvement, as her approval rating from the last poll was only 42%. Even still, she is still the lowest in the nation. 

However, just because she has the lowest approval rating doesn’t mean she has the highest disapproval rating. Her disapproval rating is actually at 39%, while the leftover 16% are Oregonians who neither approved nor disapproved. If you’re looking for the actual lowest, that title belongs to Democrat Tony Evers of Wisconsin, who holds a 44% disapproval rating, which is the highest in the country.

After the release of the poll, Kotek herself said that the people of Oregon still didn’t know her. She has made a commitment at the start of the year to visit all 36 counties to introduce herself during her first year of office. As of now, she is halfway through this promise.

This is a trend that has continued since former governor Kate Brown, who was also the least approved governor in the country. Kotek hopes to break that streak.

And just in case you’re curious, the governor sitting at the highest approval rating is Republican Governor Phil Scott of Vermont, who sits at 76%.