That poll may be a bit of a Republican-friendly outlier, but other recent polls have consistently shown that Oregon voters strongly disapprove of the direction in which the state is headed, and Joe Biden and Kate Brown are quite unpopular. It’s become a well-acknowledged fact among Oregon politicos, Democratic and Republican, that Kate Brown is the nation’s least popular governor.

Oregon voters overwhelmingly think things are bad and blame the Democrats in power. And Republicans in last week’s primary election somewhat uncharacteristically nominated candidates who offer appealing alternatives in the most important races. (The Oregon GOP shares the blame for its extended time in the electoral wilderness: It failed twice to gather enough signatures to subject the “nation’s least popular governor” to a recall election.)

In a three-way showdown that should bring national attention, Republican Christine Drazan faces Democrat Tina Kotek and Betsy Johnson, a former Democratic legislator running as a non-affiliated candidate. Drazan, formerly the state-house GOP leader, is a mainstream conservative unencumbered by the personal and political baggage of her primary opponents. She holds mainstream Republican positions on abortion and other social issues that have caused problems with the base for prior, more moderate, Republican nominees.