Pubdate: Wed, 22 Mar 2000
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2000 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, N.M. 87103
Website: http://www.abqjournal.com/
Author: Loie Fecteau

JOHNSON'S NUMBERS NOSE-DIVE

Gov. Gary Johnson's voter approval rating plunged nearly 20 points in the
past year, declining from a 54 percent level to 35 percent last week,
according to a new Journal poll.

At the same time, more than two-thirds of the New Mexico voters surveyed
called Johnson's recent push for marijuana and heroin legalization a bad idea.

In the latest Journal survey on voter regard for his job performance,
Johnson's disapproval rating climbed above his approval rating for the
first time since he took office in 1995.

Forty-four percent said they disapproved of the job Johnson is doing as
governor. Sixteen percent had mixed feelings and 5 percent were undecided.

"Johnson maintained good numbers for five years, but then, all of a sudden
in this past year, his approval rating plummeted ... ," said Brian
Sanderoff of Research and Polling Inc., which conducted the March 14-16
poll, as well as the earlier ones.

Sanderoff said he believes Johnson's drop in popularity is linked to the
Republican governor's highly publicized criticism of the nation's "war on
drugs" and his advocacy of legalizing such drugs as marijuana and heroin.
Critics of the move have ranged from members of his own party back home to
White House drug policy chief Barry McCaffrey.

"I believe that the governor's significant drop in approval is attributable
primarily to his stance on drug reform," Sanderoff said.

Sixty-eight percent of the registered voters polled said the governor's
proposal that drugs such as marijuana and heroin should be legal is a bad
idea. Sixteen percent said it is a good idea, while 13 percent had mixed
feelings and 3 percent were undecided.

Voters were asked: "Gov. Gary Johnson has said the nation's 'war on drugs'
has been a failure and that certain drugs, such as marijuana and heroin,
should be legalized in order to be regulated and taxed. Do you think this
is a good idea or a bad idea?"

Sixty-nine percent of the Republican voters said Johnson's drug
legalization idea is a bad idea and 14 percent said it is a good idea.
Among Democrats, 74 percent were against legalizing drugs compared with 15
percent who said it is a good idea.

Support for Johnson's push was strongest among independents, voters 18 to
34 years old and people living in the Albuquerque metropolitan area,
Sanderoff said.

Among Hispanic respondents, 84 percent said Johnson's proposal is a bad
idea, while 9 percent said it is a good idea.

Sixty percent of Anglo respondents opposed Johnson on the drug question,
while 20 percent said it was a good idea. Seventeen percent had mixed
feelings and 3 percent were undecided.

Johnson's approval rating has fallen nearly 30 percentage points over the
last year among fellow Republicans -- a sharper drop than it has been among
voters at large, Sanderoff said.

In an April 1999 Journal poll, 81 percent of registered Republicans
approved of the job Johnson was doing as governor, while 52 percent
approved in the new poll.

Among registered Democrats, Johnson's approval rating dropped by 14
percentage points over the last year, from 37 percent to 23 percent,
according to Journal surveys.

"He's experienced a dramatic reduction in approval ratings among members of
his party, the Republicans, and his erosion of support among Republicans
was twice as much as his drop among Democrats," Sanderoff said. "This
supports that the drop is related to the drug issue ... . I mean he's not
getting in trouble with Republicans because he's fighting with Manny and
Raymond," Sanderoff said, referring to Senate President Pro Tem Manny
Aragon, D-Albuquerque, and House Speaker Raymond Sanchez, D-Albuquerque.

Johnson's approval ratings reached an all-time high in September 1998
during his re-election battle against former Albuquerque Mayor Martin
Chavez, a Democrat.

Sixty-one percent of registered voters surveyed in a Journal poll during
that 1998 race said they approved of Johnson's job performance.

That was a 16-point jump from a 1996 Journal poll when Johnson was feuding
with Democratic legislators over prison construction plans and state courts
had nixed his Indian gaming compacts and budget-trimming plans.

Johnson has said he does not intend to seek another political office.

The new Journal poll is based on telephone interviews with 408 registered
voters statewide that were conducted March 14-16. It has a margin of error
of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart