beshear-campbell

A newly released poll shows that Governor Andy Beshear has a 60% approval rating among registered voters.

The poll also showed that U.S. Senator Rand Paul, the Republican seeking his third six-year term, has a comfortable lead over leading Democratic challenger Charles Booker. 

For Beshear, the poll shows a gain of 5 percentage points from February of last year when his approval statewide stood at 55%, according to Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, which conducted the poll of 625 registered voters from January 19 through January 22.

The poll broke down respondents’ approval or disapproval by region. In Northern Kentucky, Beshear’s approval is 60%, just as it is statewide. The Democratic governor’s numbers are higher in Louisville (69%) and Lexington (63%), but lower in eastern Kentucky (54%) and western Kentucky (51%).

Women statewide also score the governor’s performance higher than men. According to the poll, 64% of women approve of the governor’s job performance while 55% of men do.

Beshear is running for reelection in 2023. He is the only statewide Democratic office-holder currently.

Meanwhile, Senator Paul’s seat is on the ballot in this year’s election cycle. He is expected to face former Democratic State Rep. Charles Booker of Louisville in November. Booker was also a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in 2020, but lost in the primary to Amy McGrath who, in turn, lost to incumbent Republican Senator Mitch McConnell.

The poll shows Paul leading Booker 55% to 39%.

In Northern Kentucky, the numbers are even better for Paul. He holds a 55-37 lead in the local region.

According to the poll, Booker only leads in the Louisville area, 51-45.

The poll has a margin of error of four points.

The partisan makeup of the poll respondents was mostly even with 282 Democrats, 273 Republicans, and 70 identifying as independent or other.

For the purpose of the poll, Northern Kentucky was identified as Boone, Kenton, Campbell, Gallatin, Carroll, Owen, Grant, Pendleton, Bracken, and Robertson counties.

See the full poll results here.

-Staff report

Photo: Governor Andy Beshear joins Campbell Co. Judge/Executive Steve Pendery for a funding announcement in Newport this week (LINK file photo)