Poll: Gov. Jindal's low approval rating similar to Blanco, Edwards

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Governor Bobby Jindal is flirting with the lowest approval ratings of his administration. He has dipped to numbers near that of former governors Kathleen Blanco and Edwin Edwards at the lowest points of their career, according to political pollster Bernie Pinsonat.

The numbers are contained in Southern Media Research Group's spring poll of 600 likely voters in Louisiana.

According the poll, Jindal's job approval rating is at 31 percent and Pinsonat says that is close to Blanco after her handling of Hurricane Katrina and Edwards dealing with criminal matters.

"Since polling has been done, that's the three lowest numbers we've ever seen for a governor," Pinsonat said. "But they [Edwards & Blanco] had catastrophic events like an indictment or the storm. Jindal's down here free-falling and it's really about the perception of the kind of job he's doing as governor. There's no catastrophic event that's affecting him."

The poll also questioned likely voters on whom they prefer out of the four men openly running to replace Jindal.

38 percent picked David Vitter as their choice for governor compared to that of John Bel Edwards at 24.5 percent  and 16.5 percent for Jay Dardenne and about 5.5 percent for Scott Angelle. A little more than 15 percent did not give a choice. John Bel Edwards is the lone democrat in the group.

"Surprises in the Louisiana Governor's race are the norm," Pinsonat said. "If you're David Vitter these numbers don't mean you're going to be the next governor, but it means he has an advantage certainly."

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