Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Lower Than Obama

I tried to tell you that Gov. Bobby Jindal is not everyone's favorite governor ages ago.

Now we have the poll:
Gov. Bobby Jindal's approval rating dropped from 51 percent in October to just under 38 percent in March due to voter dissatisfaction with state fiscal and education policies, according to a poll released Tuesday. Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne and U.S. Sen. David Vitter -- both possible candidates for Jindal's job in 2015 -- had approval ratings near 60 percent.
Ouch.

Where's Senator Landrieu in this poll?
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, among a group of congressional Democrats seen as highly vulnerable ahead of next year's mid-term elections, also saw her approval rating drop nearly 6 points to 56 percent. Over half of Louisiana voters polled said they would be less likely to vote for Landrieu knowing she voted for the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare. 
It's true, people will be slow to forget "Louisiana Purchase" Mary".

Governor Jindal, however, is drawing fire from many areas, the least of which right now is his sales tax proposal.  Jeff Sadow has much more on that:
In essence, the plan eliminates all state income taxes in favor of an increased sales tax on more items, provides income support for individuals making $20,000 or less in earning or those drawing retirement pay at $60,000 or less, eliminates some exceptions to the tax code while retaining those designed to shield basic necessities from sales taxes, and raises taxes dramatically on tobacco consumption. The state calculates the net impact to be a small gain to the lowest-income earners with higher gains for highest-income earners, while business may end up paying more but will be advantaged by lower administrative costs and an increased amount of revenue with more money in the mass public freed up to be spent. 

 Jindal's school voucher plan is before the Louisiana Supreme Court right now; the teacher unions as plaintiffs have multiple appeals in place.

Speaking of teachers, Jindal's new Compass evaluation system kicked in at the same time teachers are trying to implement a new Common Core curriculum, and both are fraught with problems.

Gov. Jindal has also infuriated groups with his cuts to higher education.

In a Salon piece, Joan Walsh mocked Gov. Jindal's Republican convention speech and noted the criticism against him:
Yet Jindal’s other cruel cuts are set to stand – cuts to battered women’s shelter programs, to higher education, preschool programs, anti-truancy efforts and a range of other efforts to make life better for low-income people. Meanwhile Jindal wants to replace the state’s income tax with more regressive sales taxes. 
Jindal is getting it from all sides these days.

But when your numbers are lower than Obama's?  Well, that's baaaaaad.

(H/T:  Memeorandum)

1 comment:

Red said...

People who think they can do better should run for office.