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
Great Scott! Vermont governor retains top spot: With a 75% approval rating, Republican Phil Scott of Vermont retains his title as America’s most popular governor for the 13th consecutive quarter.
Reynolds remains the most unpopular: With the highest disapproval rating of any U.S. governor (53%), Kim Reynolds of Iowa remains America’s most unpopular governor for the seventh quarter in a row. The Republican, who isn’t seeking re-election next year, is one of only two governors with an underwater net approval rating.
Mills enters Senate race as the country’s most unpopular Democratic governor: Janet Mills of Maine’s decision to vie for her party’s nod to take on Republican Susan Collins in the state’s 2026 Senate race will add another competitive Democratic primary to the campaign slate next year. The 77-year-old, who will take on oyster farmer and veteran Graham Platner in the primary, enters the race as the country’s most unpopular Democratic governor — though she’s still far more popular among Mainers than Collins.
Data Downloads
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America’s most popular and unpopular governors
- Iowa’s Reynolds and Maine’s Mills are joined in the most unpopular list by three incumbents running for re-election in 2026: Dan McKee of Rhode Island, Greg Abbott of Texas and Tim Walz of Minnesota.
- Mike Braun of Indiana is the freshest face among the country’s most unpopular governors. He enters the list for the first time following an 11-percentage-point decline to his net approval rating since the first quarter of the year, among the biggest dips we’ve measured in 2025.
- For the first time since late 2023, Josh Green of Hawaii is the most popular Democratic governor in the country, edging out Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Ned Lamont of Connecticut and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who all join him in the top 10.
- Republican Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota remains 2025’s most popular new governor.
Trend over time: Governors' approval ratings
- While the home-state popularity of Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Beshear of Kentucky, Green of Hawaii and Wes Moore of Maryland stand out among potential 2028 Democratic presidential hopefuls, Gavin Newsom of California, who has climbed up our own national polling, is also riding a unique wave at home: His net approval rating is up 8 points since the first quarter of 2025, the largest boost of any Democratic governor.
- Kathy Hochul of New York continues to improve her standing in the Empire State: 53% of New York voters approve of her job performance, a record high for her tenure in office.
- Spencer Cox of Utah, who spent an extended period of time in the spotlight following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September, saw his approval rating tick down from 54% to 52% among Utah voters between the second and third quarters of this year.
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 X/Twitter and on LinkedIn @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 political and economic analysis. He has led Morning Consult's coverage of 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].
