* From Sneed…

The numbers game: Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s favorability rating may be sinking, but a new poll shows it ain’t as bad as the Chicago Tribune reported.

• • To wit: Although a recent Trib poll claims Blago’s popularity has sunk to 13 percent, a new poll by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch pegs it at 32 percent.

I’m so happy that the governor’s people got somebody to write about that poll. They’ve been bugging me for a couple of days.

* But here’s the problem with the poll: It has consistently given Blagojevich higher job approval ratings than any other survey. The Tribune wasn’t the only other poll that showed Blagojevich’s numbers were low.

A recent poll commissioned by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute had the governor’s job approval rating at 9.4 percent, far below the Tribune’s rating…

* Rasmussen’s latest poll had Blagojevich with an “excellent” job rating of zero and a “good” rating of 4.

* The Glengariff Group’s September poll had the governor’s approval rating at 23 percent, with almost 63 percent disapproving.

* That disapproval number is the key here.

The Post-Dispatch poll had Blagojevich’s disapproval rating at 66 percent, a number not mentioned by our friend at the Sun-Times. That’s horrible no matter what the approval rating is. The Tribune had his disapproval at 71 percent. Rasmussen’s disapproval rating was 65 percent. The PSI poll had a “poor” rating of 61 percent. And, as mentioned above, Glengariff’s disapproval rating was 63 percent.

So, the disapproval numbers are all pretty much the same. And they are all bad for the governor.

* But, what’s going on with the different approval ratings? The Post-Dispatch pollster offered an explanation…

The Research 2000 poll has historically ranked Blagojevich’s favorability higher than most others. Pollster Del Ali speculated that may be in part because his poll asks respondents to choose among several categories of negative and positive approval, which may prompt more nuance in the answers.

Maybe so. One of other pollsters, Rasmussen, includes “fair” in the job approval rating. That option allows respondents to cop out. Blagojevich’s disapproval or approval ratings could be higher than reported.

Still, when one pollster consistently shows widely different results on a question than other pollsters, you gotta figure he’s an outllier.

* This is also important: The Post-Dispatch poll has, like other polling, showed a downward trend for Blagojevich during the past several months. He’s down two points since Research 2000’s September survey, and ten points from January. So, whatever the case with the approval/disapproval numbers, even that poll shows a tanking chief executive.

* One final point.

Both the Tribune and Rasmussen had lower ratings for Blagojevich than for President Bush. The Simon poll didn’t test Bush’s numbers. The Post-Dispatch’s pollster tried to use those Bush numbers to undermine the other polling…

Ali also questioned the lowest rankings of some other polls. “I find it hard to believe a Democrat in a Democratic state would be less popular than (President) George Bush,” he said.

Rhodes is right…

But Ali overlooks the fact that Bush surely still has some stalwart supporters among the state’s Republicans, while folks in both parties seem to hate the governor. After all, the stalemate in Springfield is between Democrats.

And so is Larry…

[Del Ali’s comment was] one of the most clueless statements about Illinois politics I’ve seen in some time

Yep.

Thoughts?