While Charlie Baker’s popularity is holding up, he slipped this week to third in the ranks of the nation’s most popular governors. And, if Marty Walsh’s internal survey is correct, Baker has even dropped below the Boston mayor in favorability, despite a federal investigation that has rocked City Hall.
A new Morning Consult poll put Baker’s favorability at 70 percent. A recent MassInc/WBUR poll put it at 62 percent. Meanwhile, Walsh’s own poll, taken Sept. 12-14, of 404 likely city voters, gives the mayor a favorability rating of 74 percent, with 16 percent expressing unfavorable views.
Seventy-seven percent of respondents rated Walsh’s job performance excellent or good; 19 percent said not so good or poor, according to the survey. The poll was conducted by Global Strategy Group, the firm Walsh has used since his 2013 mayoral campaign.
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The numbers are a big relief for Walsh aides who had expected a significant dip, considering the headlines the mayor endured last spring and summer when subpoenas flew through City Hall and eventually two top aides were indicted.
Although within the margin of error (4.9 percent), the latest numbers are a slight uptick for him since May when an internal poll gave him a 75 percent favorable/22 unfavorable rating. That poll also showed Walsh with 75 percent job performance approval.
The survey indicates that Walsh has come through a major political crisis. The mayor was never accused of wrongdoing but two high-ranking members of his administration were indicted on extortion charges for withholding permits to companies until they agreed to use union labor. It also comes after a year marked by the debacle over the city’s attempts to get the 2024 Olympics to Boston and controversy over Walsh’s failed push for an IndyCar race in the Seaport.
Frank Phillips can be reached at phillips@globe.com.
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