Washington voters are not happy with Gov. Bob Ferguson after his first six months in office.
The Democratic governor has the lowest first-six-months job rating of any governor since Democratic Gov. Mike Lowry in 1993, according to a new Cascade PBS/Elway poll.
Only 32% of voters would rate Ferguson’s first six months as “excellent” or “good.” That’s eight points lower than Jay Inslee’s first-six-months rating, 11 points lower than Christine Gregoire’s, and 20 points lower than Gary Locke’s at the same point in their first terms. Twenty-two percent of respondents said Ferguson was doing a “fair” job, and 31% said he was doing a poor job.
The Cascade PBS/Elway poll surveyed 403 registered voters across the state between July 7 and July 11 using a mix of landline, cell phone and online interviews. Of those surveyed, 43% consider themselves Democratic, 19% Republican and 38% Independent.
The poll has a 95% confidence level, meaning that if the survey were conducted 100 times, the results would be within five percentage points of these results at least 95 times.
People from all parties were disappointed in Ferguson, according to the poll, but those surveyed gave a variety of reasons for their disapproval. Some were angry Ferguson signed off on new taxes; others said he focused too much on cutting spending. Some said he wasn’t doing enough to stand up to the Trump administration; others said he focused on the Trump administration too much. Some said he fell too deeply in line with Democrats; others said he was too moderate.
“There’s a partisan response, but it’s more than that because Democrats aren’t really sold yet either,” Elway said. “Maybe that’s the curse of being the middle guy.”
Fiscal matters
Ferguson has had a tumultuous start to his new role.
Two months into his governorship, Ferguson’s top aide resigned amid allegations of a hostile work environment. The governor also received criticism for not holding press conferences in Olympia during his first few months in office.
He also came into his first term facing an expensive challenge: a $15 billion budget shortfall that he needed to fill. He often disagreed with some of his Democratic colleagues on how to fill it, pushing back on progressives’ call for a tax on wealthy residents and instead urging them to focus first on trimming the budget rather than approving hefty new taxes.
But ultimately, he signed a budget greenlighting $9 billion in new taxes. Most of the new fees affect wealthy businesses and residents, but the governor did also approve changes to the state’s sales tax to include more products like nicotine pouches and digital services like advertising and web design. He also signed off on a six-cent gas tax increase.
The most common reason poll respondents gave for their dissatisfaction with Ferguson was his handling of the state budget and new taxes. Among those who gave negative ratings, 59% blamed Ferguson’s approval of new tax increases or his handling of the state budget.
Roy Senter, 64, from Pullman, said he had hoped Ferguson would take a more sensible approach to budgeting.
“Gov. Ferguson said he wanted a balanced budget, but his solution was just to raise taxes,” said Senter, who does not identify with any party but tends to vote Republican.
Among Republicans, 87% rated Ferguson’s performance as “only fair” or “poor.” Ninety-two percent of Independents who vote Republican gave negative responses, with no positive ratings.
Even some Democrats had concerns with only about 60% rating his performance as "excellent" or "good." About 30 percent of Independents who tend to vote Democratic gave positive rankings, while 54% were negative.
Emily Manke, 52, a Democrat from Bellingham, said she was disappointed in Ferguson’s lack of communication over his final decisions in the state budget.
As Washington faces cuts from both state and federal budgets, Manke said she wished there were more discussion about why certain cuts in the state budget had to be made. She also said she wished more progressive revenue streams, like a tax on wealthy residents, had been thought about more thoroughly.
“There’s just no explanation,” Manke said. “I’ve felt very hopeless and chaotic because there are no answers. I don’t know why he’s doing the things he’s doing.”
Still, some surveyed appreciated Ferguson’s work so far. Of those who gave positive ratings, 19% cited his fights against the Trump administration, 12% said he was hard-working and 9% pointed to his work on the state budget.
Don Randall, 74, an Independent from Edmonds, said he was glad Ferguson was taking a “practical approach” to running the state.
“It seemed like a reasonable approach,” Randall said. “He took flak from both sides with criticism on cutting spending and criticism on raising taxes.”
Despite their disapproval, voters surveyed were not necessarily surprised by Ferguson’s first six months. Forty-four percent said his performance was about what they expected so far.
But 24% of people said it was worse than expected – compared to 13% who said it was better than expected.
Ferguson’s highest ratings came from voters in King County outside of Seattle. His lowest came from people with incomes of over $150,000, Eastern Washington voters and middle-aged voters, Elway said.
Legislative disappointments
It wasn’t just Ferguson many respondents weren’t happy with.
Only 1% of respondents said the state Legislature is doing an “excellent” job. Twenty-three percent said lawmakers were doing a “good” job, and 32% said they were doing a “fair” job. Another 34% said the Legislature was doing a poor job, and 10% didn't answer.
Despite the low ratings, many respondents approved of several controversial policies that passed the Legislature this year.
Sixty-three percent strongly favored or favored a new law requiring permitting and safety training before purchasing a firearm. Sixty-one percent approved of a new law that caps how much a landlord can raise rents each year. Fifty-four percent approved providing striking workers with state-funded unemployment payments for six weeks. And 57% strongly favored or favored increasing taxes on the state’s wealthiest businesses.
One area of legislation that saw the most disapproval was the six-cent increase to the state gas tax. Sixty percent of respondents opposed or strongly opposed that change. Only 7% strongly favored it.
Despite the overall approval, individual respondents were generally mixed on these key issues, Elway said. The average respondent approved of three of the policies and disapproved of two. Only 23% approved of all five.
Randall said he wished there was more proactive communication from lawmakers and the governor about what they are working on so that the public has a better chance to follow legislation or speak up about it.
Manke, meanwhile, said she was disappointed in the lack of progressive revenue that made it through this session, and that she wants Washington’s government to do a better job of standing up to the Trump administration.
“Folks are just not feeling very well-connected to their government right now,” Elway said.
