Oahu voters give Hawaii’s congressional delegation enviable high approval ratings, with the clear exception of U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — a onetime long-shot candidate to become president who received a dismal 44% approval rating.
By comparison, fellow Hawaii Congressman Ed Case received a whopping 69% approval rating in the Honolulu Star- Advertiser’s Hawaii Poll. And Case’s approval ratings were remarkably high across all demographic groups, with the exception of Republicans.
U.S. Sens. Brian Schatz (57%) and Mazie Hirono (56%) received nearly identical approval ratings from Oahu voters, although their approvals each varied among different demographic groups.
But it was the highly unfavorable rating — 41% — of Rep. Gabbard that clearly stood out in the results of the Hawaii Poll. Some 15% of poll respondents had no opinion of her.
Gabbard represents Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes rural Oahu and the neighbor islands.
The poll of only Oahu voters was conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy from Oct. 12 to Wednesday. A total of 625 registered voters on Oahu were interviewed over both landline and cellular telephones.
The margin of error was no more than plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Gabbard, a war veteran currently serving as a civil affairs officer with a California-based Army Reserve unit, became popular on cable television before her short-lived pursuit of the presidency among an early, crowded Democratic field.
At the same time, Gabbard generated questions over a variety of statements and positions, including her $50 million defamation lawsuit against Hillary Clinton in 2019.
Without identifying Gabbard, Clinton had said that one of the Democratic presidential candidates at the time “is the favorite of the Russians,” a statement that Gabbard said “carelessly and recklessly impugned” her reputation.
Gabbard later withdrew her lawsuit.
Gabbard also sued Google for an identical $50 million, saying Google had infringed on her free speech rights by briefly suspending her advertising account.
A U.S. District Court judge in March agreed with Google’s motion to dismiss Gabbard’s suit.
A representative for Gabbard did not respond to repeated requests for comment via phone calls, texts and emails from the Star- Advertiser.
Baron Ching, 68, of Makiki said he has an overall bad feeling about Gabbard.
“I would say I have a negative reaction,” Ching said. “She’s just been acting a little too weird. She’s been weirding out and she’s chummy with Trump.”
Edward Naong, 80, of Mililani said Gabbard was “never qualified” to run for president. “I don’t think too much of her.”
But Vikki Conklin, 60, of Makaha said she supports Gabbard because of Gabbard’s military service and because Conklin was befriended by Gabbard’s parents as a teenager through religious and other connections, including a healthful-food lifestyle.
“I like her,” Conklin said of Gabbard.
The Hawaii Poll found that Gabbard’s highest support came from Republicans (58%).
Otherwise, she had zero majority support across every other demographic group. Her next-highest numbers came in the 55% unfavorable ranking from Democratic voters.
Otherwise, Gabbard’s support among Republicans was followed by men and independents (both 49%), and whites and those 50 years and older (both 48%).
Democrats (34%), Japanese (37%) and women (39%) accounted for Gabbard’s least favorable approval ratings.
Case, who represents urban Honolulu, received high approval ratings across all demographic groups, led by 83% approval from Democrats.
Even 71% of independents gave Case a favorable rating.
He had nearly identical approvals among women (69%) and men (68%), 71% approval among voters younger than 50 and a 67% rating among those 50 and older.
Other big numbers in terms of approval for Case came from Japanese (80%), Hawaiians (73%) and whites (60%).
HI1020Poll Monday Congressional Favorability by Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Scribd
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