Who is the governor of Mississippi? Don’t fret if you don’t know, most people probably don’t either.
Republican Governor Phil Bryant was ranked the most ignored state executive in a recent piece by FiveThirtyEight that looked at the percentage of respondents who answered “no opinion/don’t know/don’t care” on approval polls.
FiveThirtyEight noted that when poll results are reported, the focus is generally on the favorability of a figure. However, “there’s another category that shows how little many people care about this sort of stuff: the ‘no opinion/don’t care/don’t know’ response.”
To try to get a sense of which states are tuned out, they examined the three most recent non-Rasmussen polls taken in the various states over the course of the last year and averaged the “I don’t know” answers. They found data for 35 states.
So, which states are the most indifferent, apathetic or generally blase towards their governors?
The most neutral states were those where the governor was unlikely to need to wage a strong re-election campaign.
These include Bryant, Gov. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Gov. Steve Beshear (D-Ky.)
On the opposite end of the spectrum were figures like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R), who made national news with his polarizing policies to cut spending and taxes. Only 3 percent of respondents didn’t have an opinion on him, placing Walker several points below Texas Governor Rick Perry (R).
See the full list at FiveThirtyEight.
