Tracking the Approval Ratings of All 50 U.S. Governors
Morning Consult is conducting thousands of surveys every day, asking registered U.S. voters in all 50 states if they approve or disapprove of their governor’s job performance. Every quarter, we’ll update this page with the latest tracking data.
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Key Takeaways
Scott remains most popular following re-election: The first quarter of 2025 was another exceptional one for Republican Phil Scott of Vermont, who was the most popular governor for the 11th quarter running with a 75% approval rating, matching his standing at the end of 2024 after he handily won re-election last fall with 73% of the vote.
Reynolds is still the most unpopular: With the highest disapproval rating of any U.S. governor (49%), Kim Reynolds (R-Iowa), who is up for re-election next year, remains the most unpopular governor for the fifth quarter in a row. She is the only governor who is disliked by more voters than not.
Stein leads the class of 2025: North Carolina Democrat Josh Stein is the most popular of the new governors recently sworn into office: 56% of voters in the Tar Heel State approve of his job performance, compared with just 19% who disapprove.
Data Downloads
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America’s most popular and unpopular governors
- Iowa’s Reynolds is joined in the most unpopular list by three other incumbents who could seek another term in 2026: Tina Kotek of Oregon, Kathy Hochul of New York and Greg Abbott of Texas.
- Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Ned Lamont (D-Conn.) are the most popular Democratic governors, along with Josh Green of Hawaii, Wes Moore of Maryland, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Laura Kelly of Kansas.
Trend over time: Governors' approval ratings
- More Georgia voters than ever (63%) approve of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), marking a major improvement from a 2021 low (47%) after he defended the state’s electoral process from Donald Trump following the 2020 election.
- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) emerged unscathed from his 2024 vice presidential bid. The majority of voters in his state (55%) approve of his job performance, similar to the 54% who did so before he ran, and the share with unfavorable views (41%) nearly matches the 40% who did so in the second quarter of 2024.
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis garnered his best numbers since he launched his failed campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination two years ago. The latest figures show 53% of Floridians approve and 42% disapprove, marking a 5-point improvement in his net approval rating since a campaign-era low.
How Americans view their newest governors
- Republicans Larry Rhoden of South Dakota and Patrick Morrissey of West Virginia are the second- and third-most popular new governors with matching 52% approval ratings, though Morrisey is more disliked at the start of his term.
- Former Republican Sens. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Mike Braun of Indiana are among the most disliked new governors given their higher name recognition, but they start out their terms with positive numbers from more voters than not.
Methodology
All state-level data is based on a three-month roll-up of responses from Morning Consult’s daily U.S. tracking survey among registered voters. Margins of error among registered voters vary by state, from as low as +/- 6 percentage points in less populous states such as Wyoming to +/- 1 point in more populous states such as California.
Consult our State-Level Tracking Methodology Primer for additional details on the state-level data sources, including sampling and data collection procedures, weighting and representativeness, margins of error, and question wording.
About Morning Consult
Morning Consult is a global decision intelligence company changing how modern leaders make smarter, faster, better decisions. The company pairs its proprietary high-frequency data with applied artificial intelligence to better inform decisions on what people think and how they will act. Learn more at morningconsult.com.
Eli Yokley is Morning Consult’s U.S. politics analyst. Eli joined Morning Consult in 2016 from Roll Call, where he reported on House and Senate campaigns after five years of covering state-level politics in the Show Me State while studying at the University of Missouri in Columbia, including contributions to The New York Times, Politico and The Daily Beast. Follow him on Twitter @eyokley. Interested in connecting with Eli to discuss his analysis or for a media engagement or speaking opportunity? Email [email protected].
Cameron Easley is Morning Consult’s head of U.S. Political Analysis. He has led Morning Consult's coverage of U.S. politics and elections since 2016, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Politico, Axios, FiveThirtyEight and on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. Cameron joined Morning Consult from Roll Call, where he was managing editor. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Follow him on Twitter @cameron_easley. Interested in connecting with Cameron to discuss his analysis or for a media engagement or speaking opportunity? Email [email protected].
