New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy’s regional and political rivals, join U.S. President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attend a wreath laying ceremony on May 5, 2011 in New York City at Ground Zero, after Osama bin Laden was killed. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
He’s mired in a two-front stalemate over a budget that’s awash in red ink.
His state is about to become one giant construction zone. And less than half the state’s residents think he’s doing a good job.
But hey at least we’re not New York or New Jersey is the mindset of people close to Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who has watched the job approval ratings of tri-state area rivals Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie plummet in the past week.
So is Malloy, a Democrat in his second term, the most popular of the triumvirate? Or is he the least unpopular?
In New York, Cuomo’s approval rating is at its lowest since he was elected governor in 2011, with 37 percent of respondents to a May 12 The Wall Street Journal/NBC 4 New York/Marist Poll giving the Democrat positive marks.
Christie, Malloy’s New Jersey nemesis, didn’t fare much better in a May 4 Monmouth University Poll, with 35 percent of New Jerseyans approving of the Republican, the lowest of Christie’s tenure as governor of the Garden State.
Malloy’s job approval was 43 percent in a March poll released by Quinnipiac University, the most recent public opinion snapshot by the Hamden school. It remains to be seen whether that number has dropped in light of Malloy’s clashes with Republicans and fellow Democrats over the budget.
All three governors have a long way to catch up to Republican Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, however. Baker’s approval rating hit the 70 percent mark in an April 21 Suffolk University poll conducted after 100 days in office.
Malloy’s office declined to comment on the governor’s popularity or that of his rivals, saying it never discusses polls — at least publicly.