West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin (D) leads his fellow governors in job approval scores in the most recent Rasmussen Reports survey of voters in 27 states. Overall, 79% of West Virginia voters say they approve of Manchin and 20% disapprove (see State-by-State Summary).

Nine governors received “strongly approve” ratings from at least 30% of the voters in their state. Gov. Manchin of West Virginia leads that category with 41%; followed by Gov. Jodi Rell (R) of Connecticut, Gov. Jeb Bush (R) of Florida and Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) of Montana (all tied at 38%); and Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) of Arizona at 36%.

With Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) of Kansas scoring 32%, all three female governors on the list have strong approval ratings above 30%. Each of these three incumbents is also firmly in control of their respective re-election bids.

Voters clearly will not miss Gov. Bob Taft (R) of Ohio—the most polarized figure in the survey—when his successor is elected in November. Taft is the lowest-ranking governor in our survey—just 3% strongly approve of his performance and 52% strongly disapprove. Overall, only 19% say they even somewhat approve of his job performance. President Bush also fares poorly in Ohio, though not at Taft’s levels; 47% of voters in the Buckeye State “strongly disapprove” of the president and 22% “strongly approve.”

No other governors we surveyed recently are evenly remotely close to Taft when it comes to Strongly Disapprove scores (although Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski was close last month before losing his primary).

Still, while not in Taft’s league, Governor Matt Blunt (R) of Missouri (31%), Governor John Baldacci (D) of Maine (29%), Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) and Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle (D) (tied at 28%) all have noticeably high strong disapproval ratings. Doyle is involved in the tightest re-election campaign; he’s currently up by three over Republican challenger Mark Green. Baldacci is also in a tough re-election battle, but Blagojevich is fortunate to have an opponent who is even more disliked than he is.

State-by-State Summary of governor ratings are available for Premium Members only.