SIOUX FALLS - A scientific poll of registered voters found that 23 percent rate Gov. Mike Rounds' performance in office as excellent and 39 percent called it good.

Twenty-nine percent rated it fair and 7 percent as poor. Two percent were undecided.

The random telephone survey of 800 registered voters was conducted Oct. 13-15 for Argus Leader Media and KELO-TV of Sioux Falls by Mason-Dixon Polling and Research.

The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Rounds, a Republican, is halfway through his second four-year term as governor.

"It's difficult for executives to achieve those kinds of numbers," said Elizabeth Smith, an associate professor of political science at the University of South Dakota. "One of the most difficult aspects of governance is sooner or later somebody doesn't like what you've done."

Among men, 60 percent rated Rounds' performance as governor excellent or good, as did 64 percent of women. Among Republicans, 75 percent rated him that highly, as did 54 percent of Independents and 48 percent of Democrats.