Despite ongoing attacks from the Republican Party’s right flank, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon remains one of the country’s most popular state leaders, a Morning Consult poll released earlier this month shows.
During a survey conducted between April and June, Wyoming voters gave Gordon a 65% approval rating, placing him as the fourth most popular among his peers. Twenty-four percent disapproved of Gordon’s job performance while 11% responded that they either didn’t know or had no opinion.
Morning Consult, a political research firm, tracks approval ratings for all 50 state governors and releases the results quarterly.
The poll results follow a steady drumbeat of criticism from the most hardline elements of Wyoming’s Republican Party, who’ve taken the governor to task for his stances on a number of issues including wind energy and for his vetoes of certain bills.
Throughout his tenure, Gordon’s job performance has remained steady according to the survey findings. His high-water mark — 74% approval — tied Gordon with Vermont Republican Gov. Phil Scott as the most popular governor in July 2022. In January 2020, a 69% approval rating also placed him at the top.
“These poll results are indicative of the good things going on in Wyoming. They also show that Wyoming citizens recognize that the Governor continues to put his head down and work to move the state forward — including sticking to the issues that are truly important to most Wyoming folks,” Gordon’s spokesman Michael Pearlman wrote in a statement to WyoFile.
Pearlman said those include the economy, education, addressing mental health and strengthening the state’s core energy industries.
“Most people in Wyoming want less government in their lives, the opportunity to make a good living, enjoy recreational activities and have their children receive an excellent education. Governor Gordon wants the same, and that shows in this poll.
“Finally, while polls are nice, ultimately there’s only one poll that matters and that’s the election coming a little more than a year from now,” Pearlman added.
Gordon has not announced what he plans to do following his second term. When the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled that term limits on the top elected positions in the state were unconstitutional, the high court did not address the qualifications for governor. Given the high court’s ruling against legislative term limits, a court challenge on the gubernatorial term limits would likely be successful, the Casper Star-Tribune reported in 2010, when then-Gov. Dave Freudenthal announced he would not seek a third term.
In 2022, Gordon coasted to a second-term win, first capturing 61.5% of the vote in the Republican primary election before sweeping the November election with a 74% victory.
His 2018 gubernatorial victory, however, set off a tense relationship with the further right-wing of the party after his opponents insisted he only won due to the support of Democrats registering as Republican in order to support him. Despite being statistically unfounded, the claims endured, and the Legislature passed a crossover-voting ban in 2023 after many failed attempts. Laramie, Platte and Teton County voters are currently challenging the ban in court.
The Wyoming Republican Party voted in 2024 to censure Gordon after he vetoed a property tax bill and legislation to repeal gun-free zones.
Wyoming GOP Chairman Bryan Miller did not respond to WyoFile’s request for comment by the time this article published.
Since forming in 2020, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus has also taken aim at Gordon, particularly for his energy policies. And earlier this year, one of the group’s leaders went so far as to accuse Gordon and former members of the Joint Appropriations Committee of violating a state spending law. The accusation caught headlines during the legislative session and not much else.
More recently, Gordon has clashed with Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who has regularly taken to social media to criticize the governor, particularly when it comes to election security, mining and wind projects.
Gray as well as U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman are among names being floated as potential gubernatorial candidates in 2026.
The idea of Hageman, Gray, or Neiman becoming our next Governor gives me nightmares.
The good news is Mark Gordon is one of the nation’s most popular Governors.
The bad news is Mark Gordon is one of the nation’s most popular Governors.
Full disclosure- I actually voted for Mark when he first ran for Governor. I believed at the time he would be a ‘ tolerable ‘ Republican , a moderate who stuck to the middle of the road , a politican who would listen all around. I was wrong. Three strikes. I learned from my mistake for the next time I was in the voting booth .
It was startling how quickly Mark Gordon went over to the Dark Side of the GOP when he became Governor in early 2019 , before the Wyoming Freedom Caucus reared it’s ugly Hydra heads. We were still in the fading dusk of the Tea Party , and Gordon had shown some real promise in his tenure as Treasurer.
We should have paid more attention to the rise of the national Freedom Caucus in 2016. How could we have missed the rise of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus in the years following ? – the stench was everywhere . Having noted that , it still boggles me how quickly Gordon caved to the radical rightwingers fermenting in the Wyoming statehouse. As far as I’m concerned, Mark abandoned his moderate principles for both of his terms , to date.
Yes , he may be a popular Governor , measured on the logarithmic scale. He is also very much a disappointment , a hope dasher. On his watch under his leadership, the stench of the Freedom Caucus has only gotten worse .
The fact Gordon is respected at all suggests the sad state of affairs in Wyoming. The guy went out of his way to support Utah’s effort to claim public lands; he was happy to distinguish Wyoming as the first state to outlaw abortion pills; he let a now contested ban on abortions go into effect without his signature; likewise his allowance of racial profiling by State Police; he’s okay with running down wildlife with snow machines; he claimed Trump’s convictions in New York were a perversion of justice, that we could no longer trust our court system. On and on. He gets worse every year.
Governor Gordon is way more conservative than I. Most of the state is. He likely represents the mayority.
There is no way I want to see Hageman, Gray, or others of the far right wing of the Republican Party running our state.
The far right wing says they champion minimal government in our lives. But, that is contrary to the laws they keep passing telling people how to live their lives and what “kind” of people we want in our state. The toxic bigotry is intolerable. Further, they believe that are experts in everything and try to tell everyone how to do their job, education, county government, city government and so on.
If you want freedom, wake up and vote for intelligent, well informed candidates.
My biggest complaint about him has been when he lets laws that he disagrees with become law without his signature. If you write a decent about it and don’t like it don’t let it become law anyways. Stick to your guns man.
The most one can say about Gordon is that we could (and probably will) do a lot worse.
Sadly, this is true. There is a heavy load of willful ignorance and religious blindness that culminates in a very regressive view of the social contract, and a willingness to support punishment and violence as appropriate tools of state government against (note: not for) its residents and citizens. Gordon tries to kowtow to these elements without completely rolling over; our next governor will likely not resist at all.
The so called “Freedom Caucus” doesn’t want Wyoming government that represents most of the voters. And election security is the go-to boogie man for the far right. No evidence of election problems but it’s necessary to keep trying to make it harder to vote.