Scott Walker’s Approval Rating Is Lower Than Obama’s Because ‘His Policies Are Working’
August 30, 2015Jenna LeFever Politics
SCOTT WALKER BLAMES LIBERAL HYSTERIA FOR POOR APPROVAL RATING
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker appeared on Chuck Todd’s Meet the Press to discuss his Presidential run. One question in particular made me laugh, when Todd asked Gov. Walker why his approval rating was so low compared to the current President’s.
Here’s the exchange:
CHUCK TODD: New poll that was out this week in your home state. You’re at 39% job approval. Barack Obama’s at 48%. Why does he have a higher job rating in Wisconsin than you do?
GOV. SCOTT WALKER: Well, you know, four years ago, I was so low in the polls they called me “Dead Man Walker,” because back then, we were pushing big, bold reforms, kind of like the big, bold reforms, again, we push in this latest budget. A year later, I won the recall with a higher percentage of votes, a higher number of votes.
Why? Because our reforms worked. For all the hype and hysteria of the 100,000 protesters, our schools are better. In fact, ACT scores, again, are second best in the country. Our graduation rates are up. Our third-grade reading scores are up.
The same thing will hold true here when people see that, for students like my son, who’s a junior at The University of Wisconsin, the reforms are going to work there, as well. Property taxes continue to go down. When people see the benefits of our reforms, just like they did four years ago, I think our numbers will go up again.
As with most Presidential runs, when the people from your home state don’t like you, it’s almost impossible to become President. Wisconsin isn’t walled in, the country has been watching this experiment in Libertarian policies and knows exactly why Gov. Scott Walker is a terrible governor and would make an even worse President.
Instead of blaming his policy failures, he blames teachers. Instead of blaming his embarrassing attempt at leadership, he blames unions and hysterical liberals. Notice he came equipped with a few convenient items he can tick off when he needs to cite something he’s done right? But a few convenient scores or good marks don’t make up for his abysmal failures as Governor.
Chuck Todd then asks Scott Walker to comment on the fact that Minnesota implemented opposite reforms and policies, and they’re doing better than Wisconsin calling it “an interesting experiment to watch.”
CHUCK TODD: I want to stick with your governing style and your neighboring state in Minnesota. It’s been an interesting experiment to watch, right. Wisconsin and Minnesota the two of you have very different public policy paths. You cut spending, took on the unions, didn’t expand Medicaid under health care. Minnesota raised taxes, they raised the minimum wage, they expanded Medicaid, all these data points. Minnesota right now has stronger numbers than Wisconsin: A lower unemployment rate, a faster growing economy, fewer people without health insurance and it is viewed as a better state to do business by a lot. They’re in the top ten, Wisconsin is in the middle of the pack. What do you say to that?
SCOTT WALKER: Depends on the ranking, but if you look at Minnesota its had a lower employment rate for 25 years, or something like that for the last two, two and half decades. So that’s not an apples to apples comparison, otherwise I could do the same thing with Illinois which has a much, much higher unemployment rate because of the many years of Democrat control there.
The difference should be how does America stand up with Wisconsin? I had an unemployment rate before I came in over 8 percent, it’s down to 4.6 percent. We made up for all the jobs lost during the recession. We have a labor participation rate that is almost five points higher than it is nationally.
Walker basically dodges this question and points to a Democratic run state that has worse numbers than Wisconsin. He simply can’t explain why policies he’s pushed aren’t popular or even working. All the comparisons he used were from 2010 numbers, which we know were in poor shape nationwide because of the economic collapse that started under President Bush. So Walker saying, “Hey look at my numbers now compared to then” isn’t much of a grand story of success he’s painting it out to be.
If truth be told, Walker promised in 2010 to create 250,000 new jobs in his state before the end of his term, which never happened. In fact he only created 59 percent of that number.
The Hill writes:
When looking for reasons why Walker may have failed so miserably at creating jobs in Wisconsin, the obvious place to look would be his flagship job creation agency: The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). WEDC, which Walker chaired, gave out taxpayer-funded loans to hundreds of companies in the hopes of spurring growth. But the jobs Walker promised never materialized. Instead, in an epic display of mismanagement, WEDC lost track of millions of dollars in loans, gave awards to ineligible businesses, and has generally been a poor steward of taxpayers’ money.
So what is a Governor to do when he can’t pull jobs out of his ass or convince investors to spend in his state? He went after teachers and other union employees, which caused a giant schism in Wisconsin.
The fact is, he’s a Governor without a college degree and is well-known for being a Koch lackey. The median household wage is several thousands lower on average than Minnesota families, and it’s lower now than when Walker took office. He has greatly slashed school funding from Wisconsin schools while he approved spending $250 million on a new basketball stadium which pissed off parents and students. And while he cites lack of health insurance for people in his state as being good for the taxpayers, families won’t soon forget it was he who denied them a basic human right because he was only thinking about money.
Walker’s falling favorability rating is evident in his overall poll numbers. Real Clear Politics shows he has slipped from third place in the GOP Presidential Primary race two weeks ago, to fifth place this week. Voters see someone who isn’t ready for the national stage, seeing as though he can’t even convince his own state he’s a good choice for Governor after five years.
Image: The Des Moines Register H/T: Politicus USA |
