The survey by Morning Consult says 66 percent of Delaware respondents approve of the job Sen. Tom Carper, seen here at a Dover event earlier this year, is doing. (Delaware State News file)
DOVER — Delawareans are fond of their politicians. A new poll finds the state’s senior senator is the fourth most popular senator in the nation.
Conducted by Morning Consult, the survey says 66 percent of Delaware respondents approve of the job Tom Carper is doing. Eighteen percent of Delawareans disapprove of him.
The result is in line with previous surveys and electoral results. Each of Delaware’s last five governors has been elected to the maximum two terms, and the state’s members of Congress over the past 45 years have generally had long tenures in Washington. Former Sens. Bill Roth and Joe Biden each spent at least three decades in the Senate, for instance.
Sen. Carper, a Democrat, is generally seen very favorably by Delawareans. An April report from Morning Consult gave him another nice rating, with 69 percent of respondents reporting approval.
In this month’s rankings, 22 senators sit ahead of Chris Coons, a Democrat who serves as Delaware’s junior member of the Senate. Fifty-eight percent of participants view him favorably.
Sen. Carper has been in the Senate for 16 years. After two terms as governor, he defeated Sen. Roth in 2000 and won re-election in landslides in 2006 and 2012.
First elected in Delaware as treasurer in 1976, Sen. Carper has won 12 elections more since then.
The survey comes as an “honor,” he said in a statement.
Recent polls have shown Delawareans generally see their top elected officials — who, in recent years, are Democrats — in a positive light. In May, Morning Consult found Gov. Jack Markell to be the fourth most popular governor in the country.
Morning Consult’s recent list is topped by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an outspoken progressive who campaigned for the Democratic presidential nominee and is liked by 87 percent of the residents of his state.
The most disliked senator is Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Thirty-nine percent of Kentucky respondents support the GOP leader, while 51 percent do not.