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The top ten most popular governors in America are all Republicans, according to a Morning Consult poll published Tuesday. This fact is very significant, because Democrats have set their sights on gubernatorial elections in 2018, in order to set up a more favorable state-level system for the 2020 census and the redistricting which follows.
After the Democrats lost big last November, Politico reported that "numerous Democrats noted that electing governors in 2018 is the first concrete step the party can take toward having a bigger say in the next decennial redistricting process, after the 2020 census." Unfortunately for Democrats, their gubernatorial prospects look rather bleak.
According to the poll, the top ten most popular governors are all Republicans, and seven of them are up for re-election in 2018. Interestingly, the top two governors are Republicans in blue states that Hillary Clinton won: Massachusetts' Charlie Baker (with a whopping 75 percent approval) and Maryland's Larry Hogan (73 percent approval). Only 17 percent of Bay Staters disapprove of Baker, and 16 percent disapprove of Hogan. Both Baker and Hogan are up for re-election in 2018, and seem very likely to win.