A majority 55 percent of voters say governor Jay Inslee is only doing a fair to poor job and only 30 percent say they'd re-elect him, according to new Elway polling done last week.

A silver lining for the Democratic governor, though: Only 25 percent of voters say they would choose a Republican.

Pollster Stuart Elway summarizes his latest findings:

Just 30 percent told The Elway Poll last week that they were inclined to vote for him for Governor next year. However, only 25 percent said they would vote for a Republican.

So which is it: is Inslee doomed or is he a “satisfactory” governor voters would rather keep than elect a Republican? When asked to rate his job performance on a scale of “excellent, good, only fair or poor,” a majority of voters have rated Inslee “only fair or poor” since his first anniversary in office. His net ratings (positive minus negative) have gone from–5 to–14 over the last 18 months.

It is not unusual in this era to have job ratings that are slightly underwater. As these things go, Inslee’s ratings are not fatal. But they are certainly not good and are heading in the wrong direction for him.

More troubling for the Governor is the weak showing in the “re-elect” question. The results of that question indicate that he is failing to win over Independents and is losing
some Democrats. In fact: Only 17 percent of Independents said they were inclined to vote
for Inslee “as things stand today”; and 26 percent of Democrats polled said they would be inclined to vote for “a different Democrat” for Governor.