June 21, 2022

Slight majority of voters give thumbs up to Gov on COVID response

A slight majority of voters support Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, while a slight plurality say the same about President Joe Biden according to a poll commissioned by NM Political Report.

The poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling, found that 51 percent of voters approve of the job Lujan Grisham has done in handling the ongoing pandemic, while 46 percent disapproved. The same amount disapproved of President Joe Biden’s job performance on the pandemic, though just 48 percent said they approved.

The approval largely fell along partisan lines, with 81 percent of Democrats approving of Biden’s handling of the pandemic compared to 10 percent who disapproved, while 86 percent of Republicans disapproved of the handling of the pandemic and 12 percent approved. Among independent voters, 61 percent disapproved, while 33 percent approved.

The numbers were very similarly for Lujan Grisham, with 84 percent of Democrats approving of her handling of the pandemic, while 12 percent disapproved. And with Republicans, 84 percent disapproved while 14 percent approved. With independents, 59 percent disapproved while 35 percent disapproved.

It is not clear if those who disapproved supported more stringent or more lax measures. 

The poll of 642 New Mexico voters was conducted on June 13 and 14. Public Policy Polling called landlines and text messaged those without landlines. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percent for topline questions, while subpopulations will have larger margins of error.

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