Delawareans view their elected officials favorably

October 6, 2016 -- For more information or to discuss the results, contact: Peter Bothum, Office of Communications and Public Affairs (302) 831-1418

A new University of Delaware Center for Political Communication survey finds a majority of Delawareans hold favorable views of Governor Jack Markell and all three members of the state's Congressional delegation. The representative telephone survey, conducted on September 16-28, 2016, interviewed 900 registered Delaware voters by landline and cell phone.

Fully 62% of the respondents viewed Markell favorably, while 25% viewed him unfavorably. Senator Tom Carper was viewed even more positively, with 64% rating him favorably and only 17% rating him unfavorably. Representative John Carney, who is running for governor, received a favorable rating from 59% and an unfavorable rating from 18%. A clear majority (56%) also rated Senator Chris Coons favorably, versus 25% who rated him unfavorably.

State Attorney General Matt Denn was rated favorably by almost half of the respondents (47%), while 16% rated him unfavorably. More than half of the respondents (55%) did not rate State Treasurer Ken Simpler, but those who rated him tended to view him more favorably (34%) than unfavorably (10%).

The National Agenda Opinion Project research was funded by the University of Delaware's Center for Political Communication (CPC) and the William P. Frank Foundation. The study was supervised by the CPC's Research Director, Paul Brewer, a professor in the Departments of Communication and Political Science & International Relations.

Results are based on telephone interviews with a representative sample of 900 registered voters. Telephone interviews were conducted by landline (450) and cell phone (450, including 187 without a landline). The survey was conducted from September 16-28, 2016, by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is ± 3.8 percentage points.

Readers should be aware that in addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Please contact Paul Brewer at (302) 831-7771 or prbrewer@udel.edu for more details about the survey's methodology.