The budget battle in New Hampshire may change this somewhat, but as of June 22, the Concord Monitor released a poll showing that President Bush enjoyed a higher approval rating in New Hampshire than Governor Benson:
Poll: Benson less popular than Bush
Governor gets 44 percent approval in 'Monitor' survey Sunday, Jun 22, 2003
By JENNIFER SKALKA
Monitor staff
New Hampshire voters also support the new state law requiring parental notification before girls can get abortions.
President Bush gets high job approval ratings from New Hampshire voters, but Republican Gov. Craig Benson isn't riding his coattails, according to a new Concord Monitor poll.
The poll of 600 likely New Hampshire voters found that 44 percent of voters approve of Benson's performance, while 64 percent said Bush is doing a good or excellent job. Research 2000 of Rockville, Md., conducted the poll between June 17 and 19. The margin of error was 4 percent.
Of those polled, 163 people identified themselves as Democrats, 214 as Republicans and 223 as independents.
Benson's lukewarm review doesn't bode well for a first-term governor who should still be in the honeymoon period of his term, according to researcher Del Ali, who conducted the poll.
"If the Democrats put up a good candidate against him, they could definitely make it a race," Ali said. "Obviously his numbers have to improve."
A random inquiry of shoppers at Steeplegate Mall in Concord Friday shed a little light on why the two Republican executives fared so differently with New Hampshire voters.
Eric Jordan, a Gilford resident who owns Jordan's Ice Creamery in Belmont, said he supported Benson in 2002 and Bush in 2000. If he had to cast a ballot today for both of them, however, he'd vote for Bush but not Benson, Jordan said.
"I think there's been a great upheaval in state government," Jordan said. "I had high hopes that he would do a great job when he got in there. He hasn't met my expectations."
Jordan, an independent who previously supported Bill Clinton, said Benson has a "high-handed" approach to government. He said Benson hasn't done a lot of listening while in the corner office and that communication from the governor's office to the public has been poor.
But Jordan said he's behind Bush 100 percent. He characterized the president as a decisive leader with an unwavering dedication to the causes he believes in. Jordan said he supported the war against Iraq but not the president's $350 billion tax cut.
"Is it going to pump a lot of money into the economy?" Jordan said. "I don't think it really is."
Five percent of voters said Benson was doing an excellent job as governor; 39 percent gave him "good" ratings. Thirty-two percent said the governor's performance was fair or poor; 24 percent said they weren't sure.
The Monitor poll found that both men got mediocre marks for their management of economic matters. About 44 percent of voters support Benson's handling of the state budget, the latest version of which he has encouraged lawmakers to reject. Benson has threatened to veto the Legislature's version of the budget but won't make a final determination until next week.
Thirty-two percent of voters said Benson has done a fair job on the budget, 6 percent said his effort has been poor and 18 percent said they're not sure.
Richard Day, a retired insurance claims manager who lives in Loudon, said Benson may have ruffled feathers with the veto warning, but politicians often have to stir things up to get what they want.
"You need to threaten in order to get things done," said Day, who voted for the governor and thinks he's doing a good job.
Benson and Bush are about on par when it comes to economic matters. Just 42 percent of New Hampshire voters approve of how Bush has handled the economy. The president gets a fair review from 41 percent of respondents and poor marks from 17 percent of those polled.
Bush's tepid numbers on the economy and his solid overall approval ratings show that voters haven't yet linked the president with the nation's stumbling economy, Ali said.
"Right now, none of this is sticking with Bush," Ali said. "Maybe part of it is because we're so far out of the presidential election. But as you get closer it is pocketbook issues."
Elizabeth Grappone, a Bow grandmother, said she's not happy with Bush or Benson. Asked about the governor's performance in office, and Grappone offered a quick "stinks, and the president stinks, and I voted for both of them."
Grappone said she doesn't like Benson's proposed budget cuts, which included sweeping cuts to state social services. She was particularly miffed that Benson wants to fold programs for the elderly, like adult day care.
"The governor, my God, he has no compassion for old people," she said.
As for the Bush tax cut, Grappone was equally unimpressed. "That's going to feather the rich people's nest," she said. "He's putting us in debt."
Many people polled by the Monitor, 41 percent, said the tax cut will have no effect on their family's financial situation. About 29 percent said it would help them, 27 percent said it would hurt them and 3 percent said they were not sure.
Poll respondents also overwhelmingly said the tax cut is designed to benefit the rich: 42 percent said it's crafted for the nation's wealthiest, 17 percent said it's for the middle class, 1 percent said it's for the poor, 29 percent said it's for everyone and 11 percent said they're not sure.
Donna Ong, a mother of one who teaches eighth grade in Allenstown, said she knows the tax cut will benefit the affluent not the poor. Ong said she doesn't support the president's plan for just that reason, even though her family - her husband is an MRI technician - will get a boost.
"I think the rich" stand to benefit, Ong said. "I can say that confidently because I will get that benefit."
Day said that the rich pay the bulk of the nation's taxes and therefore deserve a break. He also said the tax cut would jumpstart the economy.
"I certainly am not thrilled with the amount of taxes I pay, and anytime anyone wants to cut them I'm all in favor," Day said.
Ali said that 2003 is looking more and more like 1991. Bush, like his father, is standing tall in the polls, a likely result of the war against Iraq. Well over half of those polled - 59 percent - said that the war against Iraq was justified even if weapons of mass destruction are not found in Iraq. Only 21 percent said the war was justified only if weapons are found, and 14 percent said the war was unnecessary even if weapons are discovered.
All told, Ali said that the nine Democratic presidential contenders need to shift public discussion from homeland security and international matters to domestic issues, the economy in particular, if they have a prayer of victory in 2004.
"The economy is not driving the issues in the presidential race at this point in New Hampshire," he said. "Bush gets low marks in New Hampshire but when you match him up with any of the Democrats, he's well over 50 percent against them." (The Monitor will run a story tomorrow on hypothetical Bush match-ups with the nine Democratic presidential candidates.)
In New Hampshire, the budget has been a thorn in Benson's side and a point of contention between the governor and the Legislature, whose members favor a more generous package. But there's one issue on which the public and the Legislature agreed with the governor: parental notification. More than half - 55 percent of those polled - said they support a notification law, which requires minors younger than 18 to notify their parents before they can have an abortion. In contrast, 38 percent oppose the proposal, which narrowly passed the Legislature. Benson signed it into law last week.
"I have no problem with that," said Maryann Mahoney, a 29-year-old environmental consultant who lives in Concord. "If they're under 18, the parents need to be notified."
Ali said it's still early in Benson's term, and he has time to rebound. If Bush's numbers stay high, he could help carry Benson through a rocky budget season. But if Bush's numbers plummet, Benson could be even worse off than he is today.
"If his numbers stay like this a year from now, if his approval is in the 40s, if he doesn't break the 50 percent approval threshold, he very well could be a one-term governor," Ali said. "I mean, you're looking at a competitive race without any question."
Sunday, Jun 22, 2003
