Photograph by Mic Smith/AP Photo

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford speaks with reporters at Hay Tire & Automotive in Mount Pleasant, S.C., on April 22, 2013.

Original post is Mark Sanford Down 9 Points in S.C. by Political Capital.

Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Charles “Charlie” Crist, governor of Florida, waits for President Barack Obama to speak in Washington.

Updated at 3:45 pm EST

Florida’s Republican Gov. Rick Scott, a former chief executive officer at HCA Holdings, could lose his 2014 re-election bid to several hypothetical opponents, including former Gov. Charlie Crist, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Tea Party supporter Allen West, according to poll results today from Public Policy Polling.

The survey showed Crist leading Scott by the largest margin: 53 percent to 39 percent.

Crist hasn’t denied rumors that he’s interested in winning back the seat he gave up in 2010, when he ran for U.S. Senate and became the first Florida governor to decline a chance for a second term. Crist, who ran for Senate as an independent after polling predicted him losing a Republican primary to now-Senator Marco Rubio, signed paperwork at a White House Christmas party last month to register as a Democrat.  He spoke at the Democratic National Convention that nominated President Barack Obama for re-election. (Obama carried Florida last year, as he did in 2008.) Crist had  served as governor, attorney general, education commissioner and a state legislator as a Republican.

The poll also showed Crist leading a primary field of potential Democratic candidates. He drew 52 percent support among Democratic voters. The next closest contender was the party’s 2010 nominee, former state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, with 18 percent support.

Wasserman-Schultz, a five-term congresswoman from South Florida, wasn’t included in a hypothetical primary. Her spokesman, Jonathan Beeton, has said she has no intention of running for governor.

Sink hasn’t announced her plans for next year.

West, a Republican who lost his re-election to the U.S. House in November, led Scott by 38 to 37 percent among primary voters in the survey. West announced yesterday that he’ll host a co-host a new Web show called Next Generation.

Today, West said he has no plans to challenge Scott.

“That’s one of the most asinine things I’ve ever heard,” West said.

Scott, who has acknowledged that the yellow Labrador he adopted during his 2010 race was returned to the rescue shelter after the campaign, has a 33 percent approval rating, according to the poll. He’s struggled with low approval ratings since taking office.

Still, the poll suggests Scott would win re-election against two potential Democrats: state Senator Nan Rich, who has announced a campaign for the seat, and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, who hasn’t said he’ll run.

PPP conducted automated telephone interviews with 501 Florida voters, including an over-sample of 401 usual Democratic primary voters and 436 Republican primary voters, from Jan. 11-13. The margin of error for the overall sample is 4.4 percent, 4.9 percent for the Democratic portion and 4.7 for the Republican portion.

Original post is Florida’s Scott Hears Footsteps — Loudest Coming from Charlie Crist by Political Capital.

Photograph by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Michigan State Police in riot gear push back protestors who are blocking a street during a rally at the state Capitol to protest a vote on Right-to-Work legislation on Dec. 11, 2012 in Lansing.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s popularity has taken a beating since he backed a right-to-work bill during the legislature’s recent lame duck session.

Republican Snyder’s approval rating dipped to 38 percent, with 56 percent of voters disapproving of his job performance, according to a poll by Public Policy Polling.

That’s down from 47 percent who viewed him favorably the week before the Nov. 6 election in a PPP survey. (President Barack Obama got a thumbs-up from 53 percent in the poll.)

“Just last month we were talking about how much Rick Snyder’s popularity had improved over the last year,” PPP President Dean Debnam said in a news release. “In the last week he’s thrown that all away and now ranks as one of the most unpopular governors in the country.”

Snyder, 54, was elected in 2010.

Michigan, a cradle of union strength, became the 24th state to prohibit payment of union dues as a condition of employment when Snyder signed legislation he had said was not on his agenda. The bill prompted a protest by some 11,000 union supporters at the Michigan Capitol in Lansing on Dec. 11, as the Republican-controlled legislature approved the measure.

A majority of Michigan voters oppose right-to-work laws, 51 percent to 41 percent, according to the poll.

Tuesday, Snyder vetoed a bill that would have allowed concealed weapons in schools, churches, stadiums and other public areas. The bill was passed by the legislature less than 24 hours before the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

The poll of 650 Michigan voters was conducted Dec. 13-16. Its margin of error is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.

Original post is Michigan’s Snyder Less Popular After Right-to-Work Bill by Political Capital.

Photograph by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn looks over a drought-damaged ear of corn on the farm of Jerry Kitowski on July 16, 2012 in Waltonville, Illinois.

Unlike his two immediate predecessors, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn isn’t in prison.

Still, staying out of legal trouble hasn’t helped the Democrat’s approval ratings.

In a Public Policy Polling survey released late last month, Quinn’s job approval rating stood at 25 percent. That made him the most unpopular governor PPP has surveyed about anywhere in the country this year.

Quinn, 63, expressed little concern when asked about his ratings at a Bloomberg Breakfast with members of the Illinois media gathered at the news organization’s Chicago Bureau.

“I want to be the most honest governor in America,” he said. “I think we need that in Illinois.”

“I have two predecessors in jail, right now, at the same time,” he added. “I know what my mission is — it’s to straighten things out, to repair a lot of damage that’s been done in Illinois to the common good by bad, corrupt governors. And, you know, sometimes you have to do things that aren’t that popular, but are necessary.”

The former Illinois governors Quinn is referring to are George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich. Both men are in federal prison on public corruption charges.

Quinn’s poll ratings have triggered speculation that he might have a Democratic primary opponent in 2014.

“I have no idea,” he said of the prospect. “I’m happy to show up, file my petitions and take on anyone who wants to run in the primary.”

Among Democratic primary voters in the PPP survey, Quinn’s approval rating was 40 percent, with 43 percent disapproving of him. The poll found that Quinn would start out at a 64 percent to 20 percent deficit should Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan decide to get into the Democratic primary race.

Quinn denied that he was in a weakened negotiating position with state lawmakers on budget and pensions issues because of his low approval ratings.

“The approval rating really hasn’t changed much in several years, you know. It is what it is,” he said. “I really don’t care. I’m not in it to get higher approval ratings.”

Original post is Quinn Defends 25%: Bloomberg Bkfst by Political Capital.

Photograph by Bill Kostroun/AP Photo

Chris Christie with his tickets as he arrives at Giants Stadium to attend a Bruce Springsteen concert.

Chris Christie, New Jersey’s governor, is born to run — right over his idol.

The 50-year-old Republican, who declared his candidacy for a second term Nov. 26, would beat the Democrat-backing balladeer Bruce Springsteen, 63, in next year’s election, according to a survey released today by Raleigh, North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling.

“We threw Bruce Springsteen into the poll just for fun,” Public Policy said on its Web-site.

The governor has attended more than 100 Springsteen concerts and displays an autographed guitar in his Trenton office. The two embraced at a Hurricane Sandy relief concert Nov. 2. They gabbed again Nov. 5, on the eve of the presidential election, when Barack Obama, talking to Christie by phone from Air Force One, passed the phone to Springsteen, a passenger.

The rocker, whom fans call “The Boss,” has recorded albums including “Born to Run” and “The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle.”

He has a favorability rating of 54 percent to 23 percent, the poll showed.

When asked their choice for governor, though, 61 percent of voters surveyed picked Christie and 25 percent Springsteen.

Christie has record public support a month after Hurricane Sandy, the biggest Atlantic storm in history, killed 38 people in the state and decimated parts of the coast, whose resort towns and boardwalks Christie has called “the Jersey shore of my youth.”

Quinnipiac University poll last week showed him with a 72 percent approval rating, the highest for a New Jersey governor. Ninety-five percent rated his handling of the disaster good or excellent.

Cory Booker, the 43-year-old Newark mayor, would be the front-running Democrat in the governor’s race, 14 points behind Christie, the PPP poll found. It surveyed 600 New Jersey voters with automated phone interviews from Nov. 26-28. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Kevin Roberts and Michael Drewniak, spokesmen for Christie, didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment. We haven’t tried to call Springsteen because, uh, he isn’t running.

Original post is Springsteen Born to Lose — to Christie or Booker, that is by Political Capital.