Voters support Corbett NCAA lawsuit, but down on him overall

Pennsylvania voters support Tom Corbett's lawsuit against the NCAA...but it's still not doing much to improve his overall political fortunes.

52% of voters support Corbett's lawsuit against the NCAA over its sanctions against Penn State, while 34% are opposed to it. That's a reflection of the fact that 62% of Pennsylvanians think the sanctions against the school were too strict, compared to only 27% who think they were 'about right' and 8% who think they were too lenient. 49% of voters in the state consider themselves to be fans of the Nittany Lions, and among those folks there's 63/23 support for the lawsuit. The 51% of voters who don't identify as Penn State fans are opposed to the suit by a 45/41 spread.

Despite the support for Corbett on the lawsuit, voters are still unhappy with his overall handling of the Penn State situation over the last few years. Only 27% approve of the way he's dealt with it to 50% who disapprove. That's contributing to overall approval numbers that continue to be very poor- only 38% of voters are happy with the job he's doing to 52% who disapprove. That -14 net approval ties him for the 4th most unpopular sitting Governor PPP has polled on.

We tested Corbett against 8 potential opponents for reelection in 2014, and he polls at only 40-42% against every one of them. The only one he actually trails in a head to head is his predecessor, Ed Rendell, who would start out with a 46/40 advantage were he to attempt the comeback. Corbett would be tied with Attorney General Kathleen Kane at 42%.

The rest of the Democrats we tested Corbett leads by modest margins. It's 41/38 over Michael Nutter, 41/37 over John Hanger, 42/36 over Joe Sestak, 41/35 over Rob McCord, 41/34 over Allyson Schwartz, and 41/29 over Tom Wolf. The undecideds in all of these races lean strongly Democratic- they're generally voters who disapprove of Corbett but aren't familiar yet with the potential alternatives. His consistent 40-42% standing would put him in trouble against pretty much any of these folks.

Corbett clearly knew what he was doing politically with the Penn State lawsuit. But he continues to be one of the most vulnerable Governors in the country headed into 2014.

Full results here

Comments

[Mike]

Thank you very much, this kind of poll is very useful.

Now we can see whay some Republican was asking for polling not Rendell and Kane.

[Brad]

How about polling Corbett against Sam Rohrer and Tom Smith to see if he's vulnerable to a primary challenge. I've voted for both of them in the past and have never voted for Corbett.