- Utah Gov. Spencer Cox's approval rating rose slightly, reaching 56% among voters.
- Cox's bipartisan outreach and emphasis on efficiency and religious values boosted support.
- His approval increased among Democrats and Independents, with Republicans remaining largely supportive.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox continues to enjoy majority support among registered voters in the state, according to a new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll conducted by HarrisX.
Six months into his second term, the governor has experienced a slight bump in approval since the end of the 2025 legislative session as he has focused on government efficiency, foreign partnerships and religious values.
When asked whether they approved or disapproved of the job Cox is doing as governor, 56% of Utah voters surveyed said they approve of Cox's performance in office, 33% said they disapprove and 11% said they are unsure.
The survey was conducted online by HarrisX, May 16-21, among 805 registered voters. The margin of error for the sample is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Cox's ratings among Democrats saw the largest shift from the Deseret News/Hinckley Institute poll conducted in April: 37% of Democrats said they approved of Cox's performance in May, compared to 28% the month before.
Support among Republicans inched up, within the margin of error, from 66% to 68%. Cox's approval rating among self-identified Independents also increased, bouncing up from 40% to 45%.
These ticks upward led to a 4-percentage-point increase in overall support for Cox since April, but he still remains around 10 percentage points below the approval rating he enjoyed before the 2024 election cycle when he regularly hit nearly 65%.
"What I see in these numbers right here is that Gov. Cox has found his steady pace," said Jason Perry, director of the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute.
"He's removed from the legislative session, he's removed from the calls to veto certain pieces of legislation, and so we're getting a clearer picture of his approval numbers," Perry said.
Has Cox changed?
Over the past year, particularly since winning his Republican primary election by less than 9 percentage points, Cox has made clear overtures to the political right, saying he needed to improve his ability to "Disagree Better" with fellow conservatives.
Following the Butler County, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in July, Cox reversed his longtime position of distancing himself from the president and wrote a private letter to Trump pledging his support.
In the months since, Cox has frequently mentioned his "great relationship" with the president, even as he has tried to push him in a more civil direction, expressing support for Trump's actions on immigration, law enforcement and tariffs.
This year, Cox also may have curried disfavor among Democratic constituents by backing the state Legislature in efforts to reform higher education, end public sector collective bargaining and limit Utah's previously automatic vote-by-mail election system.
But following the legislative work window, Cox has reached out across the aisle, across the border and across faith divides in a way that may have appealed to voters across the political spectrum.
Cox goes to Canada
In April, Cox became the first governor in the country to conduct a trade mission to Canada after Trump announced stiff levies on imports from the country, including targeted tariffs on key Canadian products like steel, aluminum and auto parts.
Cox communicated in meetings with top Canadian officials and investors that "subnational relationships are more important than they've ever been before," and that Utah is "open for business."
Canadians, who said they felt betrayed by America's overhaul of their economic relationship, expressed gratitude for Cox's visit and a desire to strengthen ties with the state of Utah.
Cox, a Republican, has also doubled down on his "Disagree Better" message, sitting down with New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, in May to talk about the origins of political polarization and its potential solutions.
During the event, Cox said that approaching debates with civility actually leads to better outcomes, and he encouraged Trump to adopt a "Disagree Better" approach because if he did "he would be more successful."
Cox has attempted to apply this principle to what are otherwise tense issues: committing in May to launch a program mirroring the federal government's Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, called "GRIT, " Government Reform, Innovation & Transparency.
But instead of beginning with mass layoffs, the initiative, which requires state agencies to submit efficiency improvements by July 1, aims at "building a culture where every employee is empowered to solve problems, and every taxpayer sees the results."
Reversing what he considers a regret from his first term, Cox has also started to use his position more actively to highlight the state's unique religious values that contribute to its success.
Speaking at the announcement of Utah's 18th-straight No. 1 ranking for economic outlook, Cox said Utah's success is correlated with its status as the most religiously active place in the country.
At a separate event for a Utah-based think tank, Cox again pointed to religiosity as the basis for Utah's unique levels of social trust and cohesion, even going as far as to call for a "religious revival."
Despite the governor's tumultuous 2024 election campaign, the Utah Republican Party appears to still be firmly in the Cox camp.
During the state GOP's organizing convention last month, GOP Chairman Rob Axson, who was endorsed by Cox and several other prominent Utah elected officials, defeated Cox's former gubernatorial opponent, Phil Lyman, in a vote among 2,500 of the state's most engaged Republican voters.
