Gibbons’ numbers beyond compare

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Jim Gibbons should avoid entering any popularity contests against other governors in the Mountain West. He would come in dead last.

Fewer than one out of four Nevadans believe Gibbons has been doing a "good" or "excellent" job as the state's chief executive.

Gibbons' 23 percent positive rating is at least 30 points lower than that of any of the other five Western governors whose job performance was rated by voters in their states in a regional poll commissioned by the Review-Journal, Denver Post and Salt Lake Tribune.

And Gibbons was the only governor whose "excellent" rating was in the single digits -- 6 percent.

The Nevada governor's positive performance percentage is less than half of the next lowest rated governor, New Mexico's Bill Richardson. Fifty-six percent of respondents in that state felt Richardson was doing a good or excellent job.

Utah's Jon Huntsman Jr. and Wyoming's Dave Freudenthal received better than 80 percent positive scores from voters in their states.

The survey found 46 percent of Nevadans polled believe Gibbons is doing a "poor" job as governor. That compares with just 3 percent of Wyoming residents who believe Freudenthal has been a poor governor.

Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C., interviewed 400 residents in each state in coming up with the ratings. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

"It is embarrassing to the state and embarrassing to himself," state Senate Minority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said about Gibbons' low ratings.

Horsford said he isn't critical of Gibbons over his messy divorce with his wife, Dawn Gibbons, but over his lack of leadership and inability to come up with ways to balance the state budget other than massive spending cuts.

"He has no solutions," Horsford said. "I am not surprised by the results."

Gibbons press secretary Ben Kieckhefer had a different reading of the poll results.

Besides the 23 percent who believe Gibbons has been an excellent or good governor, Kieckhefer noted 27 percent of those polled in Nevada believe Gibbons is doing a "fair" job.

"With an economy that has struggled since the day he took office, half of those polled think the governor is doing a fair job or better," Kieckhefer said. "That's not too shabby considering the state of things.

"Budget cuts are never popular, but you know what, neither are tax increases. Governor Gibbons has kept his promise to the people of Nevada that he would hold the line on taxes; and when this economy turns around, which it will, the state of Nevada will be the better place for it."

The latest positive ratings for Gibbons actually are up slightly from two months ago. At that time, Mason-Dixon found 21 percent of respondents in Nevada rated Gibbons a good or excellent governor.

Besides rating Gibbons' performance as governor, the survey also found that half of those polled in Nevada believe the governor's pending divorce, and allegations he had been involved with another woman, have not affected his ability to lead.

Forty percent believe the divorce has hampered his ability to govern; 10 percent were undecided.

Silver Springs resident Susan Jones, who participated in the survey, gave Gibbons a poor grade.

"He is against raising taxes in Nevada, when that is what we need to do badly," she said. "He has cut funding to schools, to transportation. You don't kill schools, kill roads, or you kill your future."

Jones said the divorce does not bother her, but what irritates her is that Gibbons and his wife "lied" to voters by presenting themselves as a happy couple during the campaign in 2006.

"Why didn't he get a divorce before he was elected governor?" Jones asked.

Las Vegas political consultant Jim Denton, a longtime Gibbons supporter, blamed the governor's ratings on the bad Nevada economy.

"Good economies benefit governors and bad economies hurt them," Denton said. "When things go bad, the governor is blamed. We lead the nation in foreclosures, and our unemployment rate is approaching 7 percent."

Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico are energy-producing states, and their governors' performance ratings are higher because their economies are doing much better, according to Denton.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico had 3.5 percent, 3.6 percent and 4.1 percent unemployment rates respectively in July, far below Nevada's 6.6 percent and the nation's 5.7 percent.

Denton also mentioned Gibbons' positive ratings are higher than those of Congress. A Rasmussen Reports survey in July found only a 9 percent approval rating for Congress.

But Brad Coker, Mason-Dixon managing partner, said Gibbons' lack of popularity can't be blamed solely on the economy.

"He has been unpopular almost since the day he was elected governor," said Coker, noting that the Wall Street Journal was reporting about that time that the Department of Justice was investigating whether Gibbons took bribes while in Congress in exchange for helping a Reno friend secure federal business.

In a May 2007 poll, Mason-Dixon found just 28 percent of Nevadans had a favorable view of Gibbons as governor.

Coker said he seldom has seen governors with lower performance ratings. Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards was rated lower, "but he was about to go to jail."

Contact reporter Ed Vogel at evogel @reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.