GOV. ED's still got it - the Philly thing that is.
Even though a new Quinnipiac University statewide poll shows Rendell with the lowest job-approval rating of his incumbency and dismal numbers on handling the economy and the overdue budget, a majority of Philly voters say he's doing fine.
By wide margins.
His statewide job approval is 39 percent. In Philly it's 62 percent.
Statewide, only 33 percent of voters say he's handling the economy well. In Philly the number is 65 percent.
Statewide, just 28 percent like his state budget efforts. In Philly, 59 percent side with His Edness.
A slim majority of city voters (51 percent) - while living in the highest-taxed city in America and facing the prospect of an increased sales tax - support Ed's proposed 16 percent increase in the state personal-income tax.
Statewide, only one-third of folks support the hike, according to a poll of 1,173 Pennsylvania voters released yesterday.
The numbers tell a story of two states, a story that has dogged and helped define Rendell since he took office in 2003. He remains to many the mayor/governor of Philadelphia: to Philadelphians who still view him as savior of the city; to others who believe the city's all he cares about.
No other region of the state, for example, supports an increased personal-income tax, and I bet if Rendell's name wasn't on the question (it was polled as his proposal), Philly wouldn't support it, either.
But it does because it's him.
This Philly thing is a large part of why Rendell so often faces stumbling blocks when dealing with a Legislature largely representative of places other than Philly. His style, goals and priorities often separate him from the rest of the state. Think guns, gays, spending and taxes.
I don't doubt that the Guv's declining statewide approval reflects frustration with the overall economy.
At a news conference yesterday he dismissed the decline: "I'm here if my favorables drop to 10 percent," he said, "As long as I believe I'm doing the right thing, I don't care."
Why would he? He's a lame-duck incumbent who says he's done with public life when he leaves office after next year.
When I ask Peter Brown, Quinnipiac poll assistant director, if any numbers in the survey surprise him, he says, "Maybe the extent of the governor's drop [Ed's approval rating was 54 percent in May] . . . but that's going on around the country. Even President Obama's numbers are down."
I find two things interesting.
