October 8, 2020

Half of NM voters approve of Lujan Grisham’s job performance, most disapprove of Trump’s

Half of New Mexico voters approve of the job Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is doing overall, with a higher rating on her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, while most don’t approve of President Donald Trump’s job performance.

This is according to the Public Policy Polling poll commissioned by NM Political Report.

The poll showed that 50 percent of New Mexico voters approve of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s job performance and 42 percent disapprove.

The number of those who disapprove increased by nine points since NM Political Report’s June poll, while the number of those who approve dropped by two.

However, Lujan Grisham gets higher marks for how she has handled the COVID-19 pandemic. The poll found 58 percent of voters in the state approve of how she has handled the pandemic, compared to 36 percent who disapprove.

Trump was much more unpopular among New Mexico voters.

The poll found that just 40 percent of New Mexico voters approve of the president’s job performance, compared to 56 percent who disapproved.

This was an improvement over the June results that showed Trump’s approval rating at 37 percent and his disapproval at 55 percent.

The numbers were nearly identical for how he has handled the COVID-19 pandemic, with 39 percent who approve and 56 percent who disapproved.

A majority of New Mexico voters, 51 percent, had a favorable opinion of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Of the voters, 42 percent had an unfavorable opinion of Biden.

The poll was conducted before the White House revealed that Trump had tested positive for COVID-19. Trump spent the weekend at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and left on Monday.

The poll also surveyed the approval ratings of both U.S. Senators, who each had over a quarter of voters who did not say they approved or disapproved.

Retiring U.S. Sen. Tom Udall had the higher approval ratings of the two, with 42 percent who said they approved and 31 percent who said they disapproved. Meanwhile, 37 percent said they approved of Martin Heinrich’s job performance and 34 percent said they disapproved. 

Udall’s approval rating rose by one point as did the percentage of those who disapproved. Heinrich’s approval rating increased by one point, while his disapproval increased by five points.

Public Policy Polling conducted the poll on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 through automated calls to landlines and text messages to cell-phone only voters. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percent for the full sample of 886 New Mexico voters.

New Mexico PPP poll by New Mexico Political Report on Scribd

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