Ten months into the job, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has won widespread approval among Minnesotans, with her strongest showings among women and older Minnesotans, a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll has found.
At 61 percent, Klobuchar’s approval rating is the highest of any Minnesota senator this decade… ”
She was there for the bridge,” said Diane Moshier, 59, a pharmacy co-owner in Little Falls. “When something happens, she’s been here taking care of things and making sure there’s funds, trying to get things passed so the problem can be fixed.”
Amy Klobuchar has been a hard working Senator for all Minnesotans and her approval rating shows it.
Zack Adds:
Before any Republicans call this Amy’s “honeymoon” let me direct you to the Strib’s new political blog, McMemo, which points out that other freshmen Minnesota Senators didn’t get such high marks at this point in their term:
Norm Coleman, R: 12 months in (Jan. 2004) — 54 percent
Mark Dayton, D: 13 months in (Feb. 2002) — 46 percent
Rod Grams, R: 9 months in (Sept. 1995) — 37 percent
Paul Wellstone, D: 12 months in (Jan. 1992) 50 percent
Amy’s high marks are particularly impressive compared to these numbers because they come at a time when Congress’ approval rating as an institution at such a low point.
Good for Klobuchar. I think she has charted a pretty good course thus far, generally navigating toward the issues that her constituents were looking for immediately involvement in.
But while giving full credit to her for starting off on the right foot, I would point out two things: 1) the press has been supportive of her, especially when constrating with their coverage of Coleman, and 2) she won the general election in a landslide… so started off with a high level of support. While not a direct translation, I would guess that those who voted for you generally will approve of you until given a reason not to. Klobuchar carried 58% of the vote, whereas it isn’t uncommon for a Minnesota Senator to win with less than 49% of the vote in a three-way race.
Still, she is playing her cards well so far and needs to be commended for charting a good course.
Ugh..Amy needs to stop being such a huge ethanol supporter. The GOP sells out to Big Oil and the Dems sell out to Big Ag - Klobuchar is a perfect example of this. If she would champion energy conservation at least as much as she pushes ethanol that would be a step in the right direction - but it doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon. Her thinking seems to be along the lines of let’s push energy policy that first and foremost pushes the economy..the environment…well that can be ignored longer. And then since poll numbers trump a meaningful legacy…not a big deal…