Corbett's Approval Rating Up Thanks to Hurricane Sandy

By Eric Boehm | PA Independent

HARRISBURG – A new poll from Quinnipiac University shows Gov. Tom Corbett with a positive approval rating for the first time since March.

Corbett’s approval rating in the poll is 40 percent among registered voters, with 38 percent of those voters disapproving.

The governor has struggled with low approval ratings for most of the year, but pollster Tim Malloy said he won points with both Democrats and Republicans for his handling of Hurricane Sandy, which struck Pennsylvania in late October, causing flooding and widespread power outages that left 1.3 million Pennsylvania homes without electricity.

“We would call this a Sandy bump,” Malloy said. “People like the way he handled everything recently during the hurricane.”

Corbett experienced a similar uptick in the polls following a pair of storms last August that unleashed floods across the northeastern and central parts of Pennsylvania.

Despite being in office for nearly two years – and holding statewide office for more eight years – Corbett still has a significant slice of the Pennsylvania electorate, 23 percent, undecided about him.

As he moves towards re-election, that means Corbett’s numbers have room to move.

“I think if you sat down with the governor right now and said ‘would you take these numbers six months from now’ he’d say ‘great,’” Malloy said.

Throughout the year, Corbett’s refrain has been that he is not going to govern based on poll numbers and approval ratings.

Voters in the survey gave the state legislature a 36 percent approval rating, up from 27 percent in June.

The poll surveyed 1,489 registered voters in Pennsylvania with a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Listen to a brief interview with Malloy here.