Lankford leads in favorability

He may be the state's newest statewide elected official, but Oklahoma's junior United States senator, James Lankford, leads the state in favorability among the state's current and most well-known statewide elected officials, according to the most recent SoonerPoll Quarterly Poll.

The favorability index is calculated by standardizing the mean score of the survey's standard five-point Likert scale of 'very favorable' to "very unfavorable," less those who had no opinion of that particular individual.

President Barack Obama, the only Democrat, trailed severely in a field of Republicans with only 27.6 percent combined favorable and 69.6 percent combined unfavorable.  This particular result ranks near the bottom since SoonerPoll began polling the president's favorables in April, 2009.

Lt. Governor Todd Lamb was second behind Lankford but, interestingly, was the least known of those tested with the highest percentage, 33.5%, of Oklahoma likely voters who did not have an opinion or know of him.

U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe, who been in statewide elective office the longest of those scored, edged out Attorney General Scott Pruitt for the next spot.  Pruitt was not known by 27 percent of the electorate, while only 7.7 percent for Inhofe.  Lamb and Pruitt are thought to be top gubernatorial candidates in 2018.

Trailing the field of Republicans was Governor Mary Fallin whose combined unfavorable was slightly more than one-in-three likely voters at 35.1 percent.  Fallin's favorability has been an issue for her since right before the 2014 election and has continued since.  She was also the most well-known statewide official tested with only 2 percent having no opinion.

About the Poll

SoonerPoll.com, Oklahoma’s public opinion pollster, asked these questions of Oklahoma likely voters as part of the SoonerPoll Quarterly Poll.

The scientific study was conducted from September 1-15, 2015 with 403 likely Oklahoma voters selected at random statewide from a dual frame of both landline telephone and cell phones. The sample was weighted by political party and age in order to reflect the Oklahoma likely voter population for a general election.

The sample reflects the traditional demographical profile of the Oklahoma likely voter with roughly half of respondents identifying as conservative and attending religious services once or more per week. The study has a Margin of Error (MoE) of ±4.88 percent.

This poll not only conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls but exceeds the standard disclosure with a Call Disposition and Rate Calculation Report. A complete description of the methodology can be found here.

The poll's Call Disposition and Rate Calculation Report can be viewed here.  A beta version of the Weighting Table Report can be viewed here.