"Gov. Tom Corbett's batting average with women and Republicans has surged, getting him to the important 50 percent benchmark in approval rating," Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement.
"Compared to struggling first-term Republican Governors Rick Scott in Florida and John Kasich in Ohio, two other swing states, Gov. Corbett's .500 average makes him an all-star candidate." Disapproving were 32 percent.
Still, voters say they don't like Corbett's policies quite as much as they like the man: 42 percent said they approved, while 37 did not.
He was elected last year with 54.5 percent of the vote.
The governor, the poll found, seems to be in step with voters on at least two issues: privatizing the state liquor stores and imposing a levy on drilling the Marcellus Shale. The governor, from the start, has said he believes the state should not be in the business of selling alcohol, yet only recently has he come around to clearly supporting imposing a local impact fee on drillers. The majority of the money raised, Corbett has argued, should go to those communities directly impacted by drilling.
The Quinnipiac survey found voters support, 64 to 27 percent, a new tax on gas drilling companies, and 62 to 31 percent the selling off of state liquor stores.
The poll, conducted from Sept. 21 to 26, surveyed 1,370 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
Contact Inquirer staff writer Angela Couloumbis at 717-787-5934, acouloumbis@phillynews.com or @AngelasInk on Twitter.
