Is Gov. Jindal’s Approval Rating Now Lower Than President Obama’s In Louisiana?

The Southern Media Opinion and Research poll was released Tuesday, and the numbers did not look good for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.

In a poll of 600 Louisiana voters, Gov. Jindal's approval rating fell to 38 percent. President Obama's was 43 percent. Last October, the same poll showed Jindal's approval rating at 51 percent, a drop of 13 percentage points since 2011. When you pair this with a survey released in February by Public Policy Polling, which had Jindal at a 37 percent approval rating, it's clear that Jindal's favorability with citizens of Louisiana is falling fast. "Right now, it's a matter of how much farther can it go," says pollster Bernie Pinsonat.

Gov. Jindal was in Shreveport Tuesday pushing his tax reform plan, which also showed negatively in the poll. He was asked about the numbers. He says he's not interested in poll data:

We've got enough leaders that govern by the polls. We don't do that. We focus on what's right for Louisiana. We think getting rid of the income tax is the best thing we can do to create jobs, create growth for our families.

In the telephone survey funded by businessman Lane Grigsby, most of the survey's respondents were against Jindal's plan to eliminate income taxes in exchange for higher sales taxes. 63 percent opposed the governor's proposal, while only 27 percent supported it. Pinsonat says this will make it even tougher for the tax reform plan to get the needed two-thirds vote in both chambers. "If you're looking at Democrats, they're basically all opposed to it. Republicans are not that crazy about it," says Pinsonat.