New Poll Suggests Kristi Noem’s Popularity in South Dakota Has Plummeted Since Dog Killing Story Surfaced

A new survey of South Dakotans indicates that Governor Noem’s disastrous book release appears to have impacted not only her vice presidential prospects but her popularity in her home state as well.The survey, sponsored by South Dakota News Watch and conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy, found that 48 percent of South Dakotans have an unfavorable view of Ms. Noem, while just 39 percent have a favorable opinion. Another 13 percent had a neutral perception of Ms. Noem.In terms of her prospects for the vice presidency, some 60 percent of respondents in South Dakota said Ms. Noem should not be chosen for vice president, including 55 percent of Republicans.The survey was conducted between May 10 and May 13, in the wake of the launch and subsequent abrupt end of the governor’s book tour for her new book, “No Going Back.”The book tour was cut short after the governor was unable to escape questions about a story in the book she told about killing one of her family dogs, who she said had behaved badly, as well as an apparently made-up story about meeting the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.Ms. Noem’s unfavorability stands in contrast to approval for the job she is doing as governor. Some 52 percent of South Dakota respondents approved of the job she was doing as governor, while 46 percent disapproved.“I think those numbers speak to voters’ ability to distinguish between the job she’s doing as governor and her likability as a person,” political scientist Julia Hellwege, who is the incoming director of the Chiesman Center at the University of South Dakota, told the South Dakota News Watch.The poll suggests a marked decline in favorability from the last time the same pollster clocked opinions of Ms. Noem. In October of 2020, shortly after Ms. Noem assumed the governorship, about 52 percent of South Dakotans reported having a favorable opinion of her.Overwhelmingly, respondents to the survey said that they thought that Ms. Noem’s killing of her dog, Cricket, was unjustified, with 58 percent saying it was unjustified and 38 percent saying it was justified.“I hated that dog,” she wrote in the book. “At that moment, I realized I had to put her down.”Respondents to the survey were explicit in citing the book release and Ms. Noem’s response as being behind their shifting opinion of the governor.About 62 percent said that the fallout from the book release damaged Ms. Noem’s credibility, while another 34 percent said it did not. That includes about 47 percent of supporters of President Trump in the state.The survey of 500 South Dakota voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 points.

New Poll Suggests Kristi Noem’s Popularity in South Dakota Has Plummeted Since Dog Killing Story Surfaced

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