The Boston Globe, March 2021
Approval of Governor Charlie Baker’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has dropped significantly since the early days of the pandemic last spring, according to survey results released Friday.
“Governor Baker has seen a gradual decline in approval for his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak throughout the pandemic, starting at a remarkably high 80 percent approval … and suffering a gradual decline to 59 percent,” according to a report from Northeastern, Harvard, Rutgers, and Northwestern universities.
The Republican governor, who has led the state through the deadly pandemic for the past year, has been presiding over a vaccination campaign that has left many residents frustrated. David Lazer, a Northeastern University political science and computer science professor who worked on the report, said researchers found that approval ratings for governors’ handling of the pandemic had declined across the country.
At the same time, “Massachusetts did have a particular challenge in January and February with the vaccine rollout. And you do see Baker suffer a particular drop in this last round. One would guess that was because of the bumpy rollout of vaccines. I think he’s taken a hit as a result.”
