Bredesen approval rating at 72 percent
The Democratic governor received an excellent to good rating by 72 percent and a fair to poor rating by 22 percent.
‘He’s doing something right, and a lot of other governors in the country would envy these numbers,’ Brad Coker, managing director of Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc.
Mason-Dixon conducted the telephone poll of 400 registered voters — Democrats and Republicans — Jan. 28-29 for The Tennessean and Chattanooga Times Free Press. The margin of error was plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Bredesen, a former Nashville mayor, reported Monday that his re-election campaign committee raised $1.3 million from Sept. 4 through Dec. 31. The committee ended the period with about the same amount of cash on hand.
Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker said the governor was gratified by the level of support reflected in his popularity numbers.
‘It seems that people are responding to campaign promises he made of a common-sense businesslike approach to governing, focusing on fiscal responsibility, and setting clear focused priorities for new spending,’ Lenker said.
A December poll also by Mason-Dixon found 49 percent of the respondents gave a good rating for the Democratic governor’s job performance and 23 percent gave an excellent rating.
The survey also found that Tennesseans would rather control TennCare costs by reducing enrollees in the program; want school superintendents to be elected by the public rather than appointed by school boards; and support capping punitive damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.
The governor has made the TennCare health insurance program for the poor and uninsurable one of his top issues. The new poll found that 44 percent of respondents would prefer reducing the number of non-Medicaid enrollees in the program to save money, while 19 percent favor reducing benefits. More than a third, 37 percent, said they were not sure what to do or would rather do neither.
The results run counter to what Bredesen has hinted he would prefer — reducing benefits. On Feb. 17 the governor is expected to announce the results of a consultant’s report and how he plans to change TennCare to rein in costs.
The poll showed that 63 percent of Tennesseans would rather elect school superintendents than have school boards make appointments.
The existing system of having elected school boards to appoint directors got 21 percent support.
‘I think voters should be heard directly on the issues — it’s a no-confidence vote for the school board,’ said Michael Welch, 48, a Knoxville insurance auditor, reflecting sentiments of other respondents who said they were dissatisfied with and suspicious of local school boards.
Bills to change the law to permit superintendent elections have languished in the state Legislature, where another attempt could be resurrected this year.
A majority of respondents, 61 percent, favored placing a limit on punitive damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, while 23 percent opposed capping damages.
‘Enough is enough,’ poll respondent John Richards, 58, of Clarksville said. ‘People should be compensated for damages but not to the point where they are affecting the cost of insurance so severely.’