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- Sen. John Curtis enjoys a 39% favorable rating among Utah voters, with 23% unfavorable.
- Despite a positive start, 16% of voters are unfamiliar with Curtis, 21% undecided.
- Curtis, known for conservative environmental policies, serves on four Senate committees.
WASHINGTON — Just three months into his new job, Sen. John Curtis is enjoying mostly favorable ratings from Utah voters who say they approve of the job he is doing so far.
About 39% of voters say they find Curtis favorable compared to just 23% who said the opposite, according to a recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll, conducted by HarrisX for the Deseret News. That puts Curtis in the green for his first three-month stretch in the Senate, where he was elected to replace former Sen. Mitt Romney in November.
But the new senator still has a ways to go to make himself more widely known across the Beehive State, according to the poll. About 16% of voters say they have never heard of Curtis, with another 21% saying they have no opinion.
Despite being new to the Senate, Curtis is no stranger to Congress. Before being elected to the upper chamber, he spent seven years representing Utah's 3rd Congressional District in the House.
During his time in the House, Curtis became known for spearheading a conservative approach to environmental policy by founding the Conservative Climate Caucus. In doing so, Curtis sought to prove how conservative values and environmental policy could go hand in hand.
In that role, Curtis established himself as one of the most productive lawmakers, passing around 20 bills ranging from securing federal land for Utah to incentivizing nuclear energy projects.
Curtis has made that a priority in his new role by being appointed to the Senate Commerce, Environment and Public Works, Foreign Relations, and Small Business committees.
Since being elevated to the Senate, Curtis has taken on a slightly different role from his House reputation. The junior senator took the reins from Romney, who was well-known for his tendency to buck party leadership — particularly the opinion of President Donald Trump — and was a frequent wild card when it came to controversial votes.
Curtis has mirrored some of those tendencies in his own approach. He was considered a Republican swing vote for several of Trump's Cabinet nominations as the Utah senator made it a point to carefully consider each of the candidates.
Still, Curtis has voted with the party on every Trump nomination so far. But it hasn't been without some "will he, won't he" moments in the days leading up to the consequential votes.
Trump has even higher favorability in the Beehive State, with 59% of voters saying they find him favorable compared to 37% who said the opposite, according to the poll. Only 4% said they have no opinion.
The poll was conducted Feb. 18-25 among 805 registered Utah voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Correction: An earlier version incorrectly reported the unfavorable number as 32%. The correct number is 23%.
