Arizona Voters Give Legislature, Governor Poor Marks on Budget Crisis

Monday, July 27, 2009

Arizona voters aren’t thrilled with their lawmakers’ handling of the state’s budget crisis.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Arizona finds that only 17% of voters think the state legislature is doing a good or excellent job. Forty-three percent (43%) rate its performance as poor.

Ratings for the governor’s handling of the budget crisis are better but not by much. Only 25% say Governor Jan Brewer is doing a good or excellent job, while 21% say she is performing poorly.

Arizona is one of several states facing a budget crisis, and state lawmakers have encountered a number of legal setbacks. Last week the state’s Supreme Court ruled that lawmakers illegally took proceeds from a 2006 tobacco tax initiative to use towards balancing the budget.

While voters from both parties generally agree on the legislature's performance, 52% of Democrats say the GOP governor is doing a poor job handling the budget crisis, compared to just 38% of Republicans. Forty percent (40%) of voters not affiliated with either party say Brewer’s handling of the budget has been poor.

Still, 48% of voters at least somewhat approve of Brewer’s overall performance, although only nine percent (9%) strongly approve. Another 48% disapprove of the governor’s performance, with 14% who strongly disapprove. Her ratings are slightly weaker than they were in May, when 51% approved of her performance.

Brewer, Arizona's secretary of state, became governor in January when Democrat Janet Napolitano resigned to become secretary of Homeland Security in President Obama's Cabinet.

Polling in California, another cash-strapped state, shows that 55% of voters oppose the state’s recent budget deal.

The latest numbers from Arizona also show that voters view immigration reform as a bigger priority for Congress than health care reform.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... get_crisis