John Bel Edwards inherited a mess when he took over as Governor of Louisiana. The budget battle with the legislature is still ongoing. There were tumultuous times in Baton Rouge involving issues between the citizens and police. Then came the rains and the flooding and the red tape of dealing with Washington and FEMA. I don't care what political party you're affiliated with that is truly Baptism under fire.

According to the latest Southern Media and Opinion Research Poll, the Governor is doing a pretty good job handling these issues and the many others that pop up in the day to day operation of our state.  The poll found that 63% of Louisiana residents approve of the job that Edwards is doing for our state.

John Bel Edwards remains popular in a red state. He’s done better since the sessions over. His popularity picked up after those three or four brutal sessions we had.

Those observations were voiced by Bernie Pinsonat in a story published by the Louisiana Radio Network. 

The Governor's approval rating has grown steadily during his time in office. A poll done in the spring from Morning Consult found the Governor only had an approval rating of 45%. In October a similar poll conducted by the University of New Orleans found that Edwards' approval rating had climbed to 56%.

His numbers have been able to go up mainly because the good marks he got during the various disasters Louisiana has had to deal with over the last 6 or 7 or 8 months.

Does this approval rating mean the citizens of Louisiana are ready to climb on the John Bel bandwagon and let him lead us to the promised land? No, not really.

Only 41% of respondents in this SMOR poll felt the Governor was leading the state in the right direction. Meanwhile, 40% of residents in the same survey did not think the state was on the path it needed to be. That's still an improvement. In October 51% of residents felt the state was on the wrong path. 

With the budget cuts, cost of higher education is increasing, the economy is still stuck in the mud, so there are a lot of things out there that are making people say they’re not real happy about the direction of the state.

In a nutshell here's what we think we know, most Louisiana citizens believe we have a good guy leading our state. We are quite split as to the direction we think he should lead us. Not quite half of us believe conditions will improve across the state under his leadership.

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