PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro begins his first term with high approval ratings, helped by the speed in which the state reopened a collapsed section of Interstate 95, according to a poll released Wednesday.
Shapiro received high marks from 57% of registered voters in Pennsylvania in the Quinnipiac University survey. Just 23% disapproved of his performance in office. He was backed by 84% of Democrats, 53% of independents and even 34% of Republicans.
I-95, the East Coast's major interstate highway, reopened within two weeks after a tractor-trailer carrying gasoline flipped on an exit ramp and caught fire on June 11. The blaze caused a bridge to collapse, severing the expressway. The driver was killed in the crash.
Shapiro's response to the collapse was approved by 74% of voters, with just 8% disapproving. And by 51% to 25%, voters approved of the way he is handling his first state budget, now the subject of negotiations with the Legislature.
"Those across-the-board honeymoon approval numbers for first-termer Governor Shapiro are no doubt buoyed by voters' perceptions that he stepped up and took charge when the bridge came down on I-95," said Tim Malloy, a Quinnipiac analyst.
U.S. Sen Bob Casey, D-Pa., up for re-election next fall in one of the races that will determine which party controls the Senate after 2024, received a job approval rating of 44%, with 32% disapproving.
But U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who was treated for depression earlier this year, was in negative territory, with 50% of voters disapproving of his performance in office and 39% approving.
The poll of 1,584 registered voters was conducted June 22-26. The survey included 614 self-identified registered Republicans with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, and 664 self-identified registered Democrats with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points.
