A Republican in deep-blue Vermont has become America’s most popular governor, with his down-to-earth nature winning over voters.
Governor Phil Scott, 65, scored a staggering 84 percent approval rating in a recent poll, and has consistently polled in the mid 70s.
And with each election Scott, a Republican in the bluest state in the country, continues to see his popularity grow.
He won 53 percent of the vote when he became governor in 2016 only to increase this to 71 percent last year, winning a majority in every city and town.
His overwhelming popularity has been largely attributed to his earnest nature and lack of ego – exemplified by the fact that he regularly mows the grass around a public statue in his hometown city of Barre.
He has also won praise for working across the political divide as well as steering the state through the Covid and flooding crises.
Governor Phil Scott consistently polls as the the most popular governor in the United States
Last year Scott won his fourth two-year term with 71 percent, winning a majority in every city and town
Scott is the only Republican elected statewide, garnering a bigger percentage of the vote than any Democrat or independent US Senator Bernie Sanders.
Scott amassed great respect for his sensible handling of the Covid pandemic in which he appeared in daily, low-key televised briefings to reassure Vermonters and encourage them to take social distancing and mask wearing seriously.
He was similarly seen as a steady hand during last summer’s historic flooding that hit the state.
The popular governor has also garnered a reputation for refusing to insult his political rivals and has gained their respect.
And residents think highly of his willingness to get his hands dirty after he took it upon himself to mow the grassy area around a statue honoring Italian stonecutters who made Barre the ‘Granite Capital of the World’.
‘We got an excavator in here, planted grass,’ Scott told the Boston Globe.
‘I saw the grass starting to grow, and thought, “I better mow it.” Now I feel responsible for it.’
Scott grew up in Barre, raised by his widowed mother, and opened a motorcycle shop and then a successful construction business before going into politics
The popular governor has also garnered a reputation for refusing to insult his political rivals and has gained their respect
Phil Baruth, the Democratic leader of the Vermont state Senate, praised Scott for his courage in working with the Democrat-dominated Legislature to pass the state’s first significant gun control measures in 2018.
Recalling the moment Scott signed the bill on the State House steps Baruth told the Globe ‘it was a chaotic scene, with outraged gun owners screaming at him.
‘There were people with earpieces, worried about someone taking a shot at him.’
He added: ‘It was one of the most politically courageous acts I’ve seen in my lifetime.’
Scott grew up in Barre, raised by his widowed mother, and opened a motorcycle shop and then a successful construction business before going into politics.
In 2011, after Tropical Storm Irene devastated large swaths of Vermont, Scott organized the removal of damaged mobile homes at no cost to homeowners or taxpayers by asking people he knew in the construction industry to pitch in out of civic duty.
Despite his successes Scott has provoked the ire of some within the Republican party for his social liberalism, support of the LGBTQ community and by publicly rejecting Donald Trump and voting for Joe Biden.
‘He’s a supporter of the LGBTQ community, which is unique given where the national GOP is,’ Christine Hallquist, a trans Vermont Democrat said.
‘It’s important to our Vermont brand, to be nice people. And he’s a nice, ethical person.’