More bad poll numbers for Patrick

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff

The latest quarterly poll from MassInsight, a nonprofit research institute, spells more bad political news for Governor Deval L. Patrick: His job-approval numbers have plunged to levels not seen in decades for a Massachusetts governor.

In a survey of 445 residents, taken last month and released this week, only 19 percent of respondents gave him a positive job rating, while 77 percent rated it fair or poor. One percent said he was doing an excellent job. Those numbers are significantly worse than last month's Globe poll, which also found him to be struggling politically.

The good news for Patrick is the poll shows that he runs even with GOP candidate Charles D. Baker and state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, the former Democrat now plotting a potential independent candidacy, in a three-way general election race. Baker gets 19 percent, Patrick 20 percent, and Cahill, 20 percent.

If Cahill doesn't run -- although his associates say he is planning an announcement around Sept 10 -- Baker and Patrick run almost even in a two-way race, the Republican getting 35 percent and the governor getting 32 percent. If Christy Mihos were the GOP nominee, the poll indicates, he would get 16 percent, and Patrick and Cahill would get 24 percent each.