From Deseret News archives:
Utahns hail '05 session, Huntsman
Governor's approval at 80%; Legislature a respectable 61%
On individual issues, it's true Utahns wanted action in a few areas that lawmakers refused to take. Both a House and Senate committee killed a hate crimes bill, for example, even though previous polls by the newspaper and TV station show good general support for the measure.
But in a survey taken this past week, Jones found that 61 percent strongly or somewhat approve of the overall job lawmakers did over their 45-day annual session.
Only 31 percent disapprove of the Legislature's action.
Getting two out of every three votes of approval is good for an amorphous, usually faceless body like the Legislature. Previous surveys by Jones over the years have shown legislative approval either below or just above 50 percent.
Huntsman still has a week or so to sign or veto bills, so his 2005 legislative record is not yet complete.
But he has already signed one of the more controversial bills one hated by much of Utah's Hispanic community that will no longer provide state drivers' licenses to undocumented workers. They can still get a special driver's permit, one that is a different color but which can't be used as "official" identification, like boarding a commercial airplane.
In his new survey, Jones found that 58 percent of Utahns specifically approved of how Republican legislators handled their work this past session.
Fifty-nine percent approved of the work of the minority Democrats in the Legislature. (Rep. Pat Jones, D-Cottonwood Heights, a member of House minority leadership, is Dan Jones' wife and a partner in Dan Jones & Associates.)
Huntsman is enjoying quite a honeymoon among Utahns, the survey found.
Only 3 percent of Republicans disapprove of the job he did with the Legislature.
Only 15 percent of Democrats disapprove of the governor's job performance.
Comments
- NFL: Week 9 recap 11:17 p.m.
- Utah Utes volleyball brief 11:10 p.m.
- Photos of the week, Nov. 8 11:08 p.m.
- Sports briefs 11:07 p.m.
- Avalanche suffer 1st home loss 10:34 p.m.
- Thunder rout short-handed Magic 10:32 p.m.
- Evans helps Kings top Warriors 10:29 p.m.
- Lakers win 5th straight 10:27 p.m.
- Bystanders framed for child porn 10:27 p.m.
- WAC: Nevada drubs the Spartans 10:25 p.m.
- Gay advocates trek to LDS office
216 - House passes health care bill
199 - Lobo suspended
173 - Cougars crush hapless Cowboys
151 - Speed has never been BYU's game
136 - Utah Jazz fall apart against Kings
126 - RSL rallies to advance
103 - Thousands protest health bill
102 - Provo company innovating engines
100 - Utes pound winless Lobos
89
Why do so many people live so close to refineries in Utah and elsewhere?
NASA's Stardust probe continues to bring new knowledge about the nature...
Sorry guys. Science is not performed by consensus. That's how politics...
lost his job and his security clearance because porn (adult) was found on his...
"The seniors really took leadership of this team..." ********* Only for...
Ironically, of the few comments supporting Mr. Gale they were simplistic and...
Buy American and give part of cost to unions, buy foreign and bypass the...
Springville vs Dixie: With or without Sharp I expect Springville to win this...
LOL, the GOP plan is 700 billion. So much for smaller government!
Add Iraq to the long list of nations now set free from tyranny by the...
I think its the height of chutzpah for the MWC to be claiming that its teams...



You can be the first to comment on this story.