Low down: Oklahomans are more dissatisfied with their own Legislature than they are President Barack Obama, and are only slightly happier with Gov. Mary Fallin, according to a poll released late Friday.
The Democratic chief executive has consistently scored low with Oklahoma voters and is generally viewed as deeply unpopular in the state. His numbers have improved slightly in recent months, but that is not why he’s suddenly in the same ranks as Fallin and the Republican-led Legislature when it comes to public perception.
In SoonerPoll.com’s statewide survey, Obama’s 36 percent favorable rating was 2 points better than the Legislature’s and only 3 points behind Fallin.
SoonerPoll.com President Bill Shapard said Fallin’s favorability rating has dropped from 55 percent early in the year, with the biggest shift among Republicans who have become disenchanted with her.
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Obama is still very unpopular — nearly half those surveyed said they had “very unfavorable” opinions of him. But 35 percent held very unfavorable opinions of Fallin and 25 percent said the same of the Legislature.
In a separate question, 41 percent of those surveyed rated Fallin’s leadership skills “poor,” while only 8.5 percent — including only 11 percent of Republicans — said they were “excellent.”
About half those surveyed had favorable opinions of U.S. senators Jim Inhofe and James Lankford, and almost half said they had a favorable view of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Only 27 percent viewed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton favorably.
The survey of 398 likely voters has a 4.91 percent margin of error.
Limited options: Oklahoma voters will have limited options when they vote for president this year. The state’s famously stringent ballot requirements shortened the ballot to three names for the Nov. 8 general election — Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Libertarian Gary Johnson.
Write-ins are not allowed, and the deadline for independent candidates has passed.
Still, this will be the first year since 2000 that a minor party or independent will be on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot. That year both Libertarian Harry Browne and Reform Party candidate Patrick Buchanan made the cut, although between them they received just 1.26 percent of the vote.
The most successful non-major party candidate in Oklahoma history was Ross Perot, who received nearly 320,000 votes — 23 percent of the total — as an independent in 1992.
Meetings and events: Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro will headline an Oklahoma Democratic Party fundraiser in Tulsa on Sept. 1.
Castro, who may challenge U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, is the twin brother of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, who appeared at similar event in Tulsa two years ago.
Tickets for the event at The Ross Group, 510 E. Second St., range from $100 to $2,500 and can be reserved at http://bit.ly/2bpK1L2.
Tyler Keen, Outreach Manager of Vote No on 777, will be principal speaker at the Creek County Democrats’ meeting at 6:45 p.m. Thursday at Steer Inn, 108 Industrial Drive, Mannford.
State Question 777 is known as the Right to Farm amendment.
Also expected to speak will be state House District 29 candidate Macy Gleason and Creek County Commission candidate Bill Burtchett.
