Gov. Tom Corbett is number one in the nation.
In voter disapproval.
A new poll by Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling shows the governor's job approval rating at the lowest of the 43 governors the polling firm has asked voters to rate. Only about a quarter of voters (24 percent) surveyed approve of the governor's job performance with almost two-thirds (65 percent) disapproving.
"Tom Corbett's situation just keeps getting worse when it was already pretty darn bad," Dean Debnam, the North Carolina-based firm's president, said in a statement. "It may be that the only chance Republicans have to hold onto this office next year is for him to step aside."
The Public Policy poll surveyed a total of 693 registered voters between Friday and Monday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
Corbett ruled out stepping aside so another Republican can run in his place. His campaign manager, Michael Barley, lambasted the poll's release as a sign that Democrats are worried that Corbett is rallying after signing a $2.3 billion transportation bill Monday.
"This poll clearly demonstrates how concerned our Democratic opponents are about the momentum Gov. Corbett has received after his big legislative win last week and in the wake of a successful re-election campaign announcement tour. I assume that is why they had their Democratic polling firm release this survey as they desperately attempt to change the narrative. How else do you explain the timing of this poll?" Barley said.
"Pennsylvanians won't be fooled by these tactics. Gov. Corbett is keeping his promises to keep taxes low, create jobs and reduce the size of government. Unlike in Washington, D.C., Gov. Corbett has been able to work in a bipartisan way to deliver results on big issues facing our state."
In a statement, state Democratic Party chairman Jim Burn said the poll is "more bad news for Tom Corbett."
"Tom Corbett has sunk Pennsylvania to 45th in the nation in job creation, cut $1 billion from our schools and has repeatedly shown a lack of character and integrity by insulting Pennsylvanians of all walks of life." Burn said.
Democratic Party spokesman Marc Eisenstein dismissed the criticism of the poll's timing.
"Democrats didn't release this poll. Public Policy Polling did," Eisenstein said.
Though the poll is the work of a Democratic-leaning pollster, it parallels the findings of independent polls such as that of Franklin & Marshall College, which showed late last month that about one in five voters (19 percent) believe Corbett is doing a good or excellent job with more than three quarters (76 percent) saying he's only doing a fair or poor job.
Compared to F&M, though the questions were different, the Public Policy poll could be seen as an improvement. Nonetheless, Corbett is at the top of the list of endangered governors.
The others on the list of governors with the five lowest job approval ratings are Bobby Jindal, R-La., Neil Abercrombie, D-Hi., Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Lincoln Chafee, I.-R.I.