{"id":640405,"date":"2018-11-01T00:04:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T06:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=640405"},"modified":"2018-11-01T13:11:16","modified_gmt":"2018-11-01T19:11:16","slug":"oh-susana-how-the-governors-popularity-eroded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/11\/oh-susana-how-the-governors-popularity-eroded\/","title":{"rendered":"Oh Susana! How the governor\u2019s popularity eroded"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Susana

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>

Gov. Susana Martinez on the campaign trail in 2010.<\/p><\/div>\n

In 2010, three Western states elected governors who immediately generated national buzz. Brian Sandoval, a Republican, was the first Latino elected governor of Nevada. John Hickenlooper, who campaigned as a Democratic centrist in the midst of a Tea Party wave, was elected in Colorado. And in New Mexico, Republican Susana Martinez became the nation\u2019s first Latina governor.<\/p>\n

All three proved popular in their first terms and easily won re-election. But at the end of their second terms, the three find themselves in much different positions.<\/p>\n

Hickenlooper is thinking of making a presidential run in 2020<\/a> and has the highest approval rating of any Democratic governor in the country, according to Morning Consult<\/a>, a research firm that tracks such things. Sandoval has respect across party lines in Nevada and has the third-highest approval rating among second-term governors across the nation. (The only two ahead of him are Republicans in beet-red South Dakota and Wyoming.)<\/p>\n

In New Mexico, however, Martinez will exit as one of the nation\u2019s least-popular governors, with only about a third of voters<\/a> approving her job performance, according to recent polls. Even the Republican who seeks to succeed Martinez, U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce<\/a>, says \u201cNew Mexico is in a crisis moment.\u201d<\/p>\n