From Anjeanette Damon yesterday on INP:

A new Rasmussen poll indicates Gov. Jim Gibbons may be benefiting from his visible opposition to federal health care reform. Since February, his approval rating has ticked up 10 points, exceeding the survey’s margin of error.

His upward trajectory began at the beginning of March, just after completing the special session, in which he played an integral role in negotiating the final budget-cutting solution. Since then, Gibbons’ staff has put out almost daily press releases urging the attorney general to sue to halt the health care legislation. It’s noteworthy that it’s his state staff who have been most active on the public relations front. His campaign staff puts out very few press releases and hasn’t organized any press events.

In any case, his approval rating was 32 percent in February, 37 percent at the beginning of March and 42 percent at the end of March. He still suffers from an upside down approval rating. Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed disapproved of the job he’s doing as governor. But if this trend holds, his GOP rival Brian Sandoval may have something to worry about. But even more notable is the survey was of all likely voters, not just Republican primary voters. It would be interesting to see those figures right about now.

Sure would.

The other figures I’d like to see are Nevada’s likely Republican voters on health care reform, aka Gibbons’ new policy obsession. According to Rasmussen today, 62% of Nevada’s voters support repealing the recently passed health care bill, and 57% say the new law will be bad for the country.  I’ve got to believe you could add at least 5-10% to those numbers if you were to poll only GOPers. Which means Governor Gibbons could turn a lawsuit against the federal government on health care into a magic carpet ride right back to the governor’s mansion.