MISSOURI REPUBLICANS STILL LIKE ERIC GREITENS

This seems like good news:

A new poll out Monday offers more evidence that the scandals plaguing Gov. Eric Greitens may be dragging down Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley in his neck-and-neck U.S. Senate race against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill.

Fifty-four percent of Missouri voters want Greitens out of office, according to an Emerson College survey. His approval rating has fallen to just 33 percent, compared to 46 percent who disapprove of his job performance....

McCaskill and Hawley, who is well ahead in the GOP primary and widely expected to become the nominee, are tied with 45 percent of the vote each. Eleven percent of voters are undecided.

I'm pleased that Greitens's numbers are down, but if you go to the Emerson polling site and download the poll's results and crosstabs, you'll see that while the governor's overall numbers are down, his numbers among Republicans are still in positive territory. Greitens's job approval rating is still 53% with members of his own party, while only 21% disapprove (26% chose "neutral or no opinion"). Among Republicans, 55% think he should remain in office, while 21% think he should resign and 6% think he should be impeached (15% have no opinion).

A brief reminder of what we know about Greitens.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens initiated a physically aggressive unwanted sexual encounter with his hairdresser and threatened to distribute a partially nude photo of her if she spoke about it, according to testimony from the woman released Wednesday by a House investigatory committee.

The graphic report details multiple instances in which the woman said Greitens spanked, slapped, grabbed, shoved and called her derogatory names during a series of sexual encounters as he was preparing to run for office in 2015....

The report, signed by all five Republicans and two Democrats on the committee, describes the woman’s testimony as credible and notes that Greitens has so far declined to testify or provide documents to the panel. It also outlines instances where the Republican governor’s public comments appear to run counter to some of her allegations.

The special House investigation was initiated shortly after Greitens was indicted in February on a felony invasion-of-privacy charge for taking a nonconsensual photo of the partially nude woman and transmitting it in a way that could be accessed by a computer. The woman told the committee that Greitens took the photo after manipulating her into a compromising position during an unwanted sexual encounter and that he told her “everyone will know what a little whore you are” if she told anyone about him.

More than half of Missouri Republicans have no problem with Greitens remaining on the job. Oh well -- at least the number's slightly lower than the 57% Republican approval in the previous poll conducted in the state.