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Last updated on Monday, October 29, 2018
(MUNCIE) - Approval ratings for Indiana’s U.S. Senators Joe Donnelly and Todd Young are hovering in the mid- to lower 30 percent range, but many people have no opinion of either, says the preliminary results of the Old National Bank/Ball State University 2018 Hoosier Survey.
In the telephone survey of 604 adult Hoosiers, about 35 percent of respondents approve of Donnelly's work while Young is at 31 percent. Donnelly's disapproval rating is 14 percent higher than Young's.
The approval rating for each senator, as for President Trump, is polarized by party affiliation with both senators receiving higher support from their fellow partisans, split support among independents, and less support from those in the opposite party, said Chad Kinsella, a political science professor, and survey analyst at the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State, which conducts the annual public opinion survey.
A high number of Hoosiers have no opinion of either senator, with 30 percent having no opinion of Donnelly and 45 percent have no opinion of Young, the survey also found.
"It is amazing that so many Hoosiers have no opinion on either senator, despite Young being elected in 2016 and the Donnelly, an incumbent, in the midst of close, the well-covered campaign against Mike Braun that has even received national attention," Kinsella said. "The results also show that both senators continue to be polarizing figures. However, with Donnelly's approval and disapproval rates, it is clear that more Hoosiers have heard of him and more have an opinion about him as compared to Young."
The Bowen Center for Public Affairs conducts the annual Old National Bank/Ball State University Hoosier Survey to provide Indiana policymakers with a measure of public opinion on current issues facing Indiana and the nation. This nonpartisan public policy survey is designed to take the pulse of the state with regard to the most pressing issues facing Hoosiers. The results are delivered to every member of the Indiana General Assembly at the beginning of the calendar year so that lawmakers can gauge public views about issues they are likely to face in the coming session.
The survey was conducted by Issues & Answers Network, Inc. (I&A). Interviews were done in English from October 2-20. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 5.1 percentage points.
The Bowen Center will release additional results in the coming weeks as the data are analyzed. Topics include gas and cigarette tax increases, school safety, opioid/drug problems, sports gambling, medical work requirements, and legal marijuana.
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