Civitas Poll: Perdue Favorability Slips

Gov. Bev Perdue's favorability rating continues to slide in our latest poll.

Her favorability rating dropped from 58-20 in March to 44-35 in April, a net change of 29 points.  That is a enormous decline for one month.  There almost seems to be a direct correlation between the state's unemployment rate and her favorability rating.  As unemployment goes up, the Governor's numbers get worse.

And we were in the field with our poll before she announced the 0.5% pay cut for teachers and state employees, so some of her base that were giving her favorable ratings may have reevaluated their position.

Fivethirtyeight.com's Nate Silver notes that low gubernatorial ratings are fairly widespread across the nation.

Still, the decline appears to be widespread enough that excuses like this just won't cut it -- America is unhappy with their governors. And why shouldn't they be, when nearly every state has a budget deficit, and governors -- unable to raise revenue as the Federal Government does through deficit spending -- are faced with the Hobson's choice of either having to raise taxes or cut essential services during a recession?

Perdue is surely feeling the effect of this and with budget and unemployment numbers worsening seemingly by the day, it's fairly safe to say she hasn't hit bottom yet.

Stay tuned for next month, this could get interesting.

Full release and crosstabs here.