Beshear, Cameron both above 50% approval ratings: Poll

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Having had time in the national spotlight during their first nine months in office, both Governor Steve Beshear, a Democrat, and Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, receive favorable job ratings from Kentucky voters (see complete poll details KY1020PollPart3).

Statewide, 53% say they approve of Beshear’s performance, while only 39% disapprove.

Cameron’s performance is approved of by 54% of voters, with only 34% disapproving.

Beshear, the former state attorney general and son of former Gov. Steve Beshear, was elected last November, narrowly unseating incumbent Republican Matt Bevin, and took office in December.

His numbers were higher earlier in the year, boosted by his handling of the first weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, but as the outbreak has dragged on, his numbers have dropped, as have those of governors in almost every state.

Cameron, a protégé long-time Republican U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, won a tight race to fill Andy Beshear’s seat as attorney general.

Relations between the two men have been described as ‘tense’ and political observers have suggested Cameron plans to challenge Beshear for governor in 2023.

Cameron, a rising star nationally among Republicans because of his role and because he is Black, has made headlines for taking part in lawsuits since July challenging some of Beshear’s executive orders designed to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the state.

He also has been in the national spotlight for overseeing an investigation into the shooting death of Louisville paramedic Breonna Taylor. Her death has sparked national calls for police reform and racial equality.

The poll was taken at about the same time Cameron was releasing video of his office’s presentation of its investigation to a grand jury. That presentation resulted in an indictment against one of the police officers involved in the Taylor case but not for Taylor’s death.

But the poll was taken before two Grand Jurors suggested this week Cameron might not have been truthful when he said publicly the Grand Jury was given numerous options for criminal charges in the case. The Grand Jurors said hey were only given one option.

This poll was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Inc. of Jacksonville, Florida from October 12 through October 15, 2020. A total of 625 registered Kentucky voters were interviewed statewide by telephone.

All indicated they were likely to vote in the November general election.

Those interviewed were randomly selected from a phone-matched Kentucky voter registration list that included both land-line and cell phone numbers.

Quotas were assigned to reflect voter turn-out by county.

The margin for error, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than ±4 percentage points. This means that there is a 95 percent probability that the “true” figure would fall within that range if all voters were surveyed. The margin for error is higher for any subgroup, such as a gender or party grouping.