According to a Quinnipiac University poll released today (Oct. 14), Gov. Dannel P. Malloy‘s popularity with Connecticut residents has fallen to a new low. A mere 32 percent of respondents to the Oct. 7-11 poll gave the governor thumbs-ups. Predictably, Republicans and independents are unhappy with Gov. Malloy – they gave him 8 percent and 29 percent support, respectively – but a sizable number of Democrats evidently share this disgust: Just 58 percent evaluated the governor favorably.
Douglas Schwartz, Quinnipiac’s polling director, noted Gov. Malloy is doing only marginally better than former Gov. John G. Rowland did when he became embroiled in the corruption scandal that eventually led to his resignation and imprisonment.
This pathetic showing was wholly predictable. Since Gov. Malloy’s re-election last November, Connecticut has been dogged by budget trouble, largely because of the Malloy administration’s incompetence. The governor assured everyone that there would be no deficit in the fiscal year 2014-15 budget, but a hole opened days after the election; this prompted Malloy administration Budget Director Benjamin Barnes‘ famous “permanent fiscal crisis” comment. Gov. Malloy, whose spending increase reduced the state’s capacity to withstand revenue fluctuations, resisted working with the legislature to fix the problem and, alas, the state had to tap its rainy day fund to close an approximately $113 million deficit. As for the FY 2015-16 budget, Gov. Malloy and his legislative supporters ignored history and adopted “soak-the-rich” tax policies. The wealthiest Connecticut residents tend to receive their money from sources at the mercy of the stock market – rather than wages – so their tax payments come in short in times of turmoil on Wall Street. Sure enough, such tax receipts came in short, forcing the Malloy administration to order nearly $103 million in emergency spending cuts.
Is it any wonder just 19 percent of respondents to the Q-poll approve of the governor’s budget management?
Gov. Malloy’s spin aside, Connecticut’s economy continues to struggle. As I noted in my Sept. 21 post, Connecticut suffers from weak gross domestic product growth and lags most of the United States in recovering jobs lost during the Great Recession, which afflicted the Constitution State from 2008 through 2010. Connecticut is most likely to add jobs in the public sector, low-paying service industries and industries the Malloy administration has thrown state dollars at, hardly a sign of an inherently solid economy. The woes aren’t surprising: Gov. Malloy and his friends in the legislature consistently have antagonized businesses, the drivers of economic growth.
Sure enough, only 24 percent of Q-poll respondents gave the governor’s economic stewardship a passing grade.
It doesn’t appear that Dr. Schwartz and company explicitly asked Nutmeggers about their feelings on Gov. Malloy’s recent rants against Republicans, but I wouldn’t discount the possibility that they dimmed some people’s overall view of the governor. The comments were well-publicized and in making them, the governor embarrassed Connecticut: He came off as remarkably shallow at best and appallingly arrogant at worst.
At this point, it is hard to imagine Gov. Malloy ever achieving widespread support. He has been in office for nearly five years and seems set in the ways that have proved toxic with the people of Connecticut.
