When history assesses the two terms of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic response will be front and center.

Just as most Republicans and Democrats differ on just about everything, not only here in Pennsylvania but nationally, most Democrats give Wolf a good approval rating while Republicans rate him just the opposite.

Since Wolf cannot serve a third term, the closest “official” determination of how Pennsylvanians feel about Wolf’s handling of the pandemic response came on May 18 in the state primaries when voters said they no longer want the governor to have such extensive - some say exclusive - power to declare an extended statewide emergency.

Two ballot questions that change the state Constitution asked voters whether the decision-making should be made collaboratively with the Republican-controlled General Assembly and limit the governor the power to declare one 21-day emergency.

They said they do, by a pretty convincing vote of 53%-47%, making Pennsylvania the first state in the nation to curb its chief executive’s emergency powers. Keep in mind, however, that voting in a primary is historically low compared to general elections. In this case, about a quarter of the eligible voters cast ballots - better than in many nonpresidential primaries, but nowhere near what might be considered a consensus of the electorate.

During the just concluded primaries, all registered voters regardless of party affiliation were eligible to vote on four ballot questions, In Pennsylvania’s closed primaries, just Republican and Democratic voters can cast ballots for their respective party’s candidates.

The first question proposed an amendment to the Constitution that would expand the control of the General Assembly over the governor’s emergency declarations.

The second question limits the length of an emergency order during a public health crisis to one 21-day period. “Pennsylvanians voted to reject Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf’s overreach of executive powers after his failed COVID response - a clear sign of accountability coming in 2022,” sad Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel.

“The results demonstrate our system of government works better when we work together,” said state Sen. Mario Scavello, R-Northampton and Monroe. “Pennsylvanians want to see more collaboration and better results from state government when responding to emergencies,” he added.

While most impartial observers view Wolf as a competent and well-intentioned governor, he has shown an incredible lack of political know-how in dealing with an aggressive legislature dominated by the opposition party.

Some of this political naiveté has bubbled up periodically during his nearly 7½ years in office so far, but nowhere has it been on such prominent display as when he was making pronouncements about the pandemic.

His go-it-alone decision to bypass the General Assembly for the most part and rely on science may have been the correct medical response, but it was a political minefield, especially when it involved the shutdown of nonessential businesses, which caused catastrophic economic fallout. His early handling of nursing home issues also rankled Republicans and the public.

When you have what essentially amounts to a once-in-a-century pandemic, political leaders are basically rewriting the playbook as they go along. This is an obvious prescription for lots of mistakes and miscalculations to occur.

Don’t expect the opposition party to whitewash these errors with a “well, they are only human” mulligan.

Aside from this steep learning curve, however, Wolf sometimes has been his own worst enemy. A recent example: In his newsletter, posted online last Thursday, two days after the primaries, there was not even an acknowledgment that there were primaries, let alone the results of the key ballot questions. It’s as if it never happened.

With hindsight being 20/20 in 2020, we probably didn’t need to shut down thousands of businesses nor did we need to isolate ourselves as significantly as we did, nor did we need to wipe down surfaces to the extent we did, nor did we need to do other things which now, when we appear to be on the downward slope of the pandemic, seem to have smacked of overkill.

Let’s never forget, however, that 27,000 have died in Pennsylvania, with more than 1.2 million cases of COVID-19 reported. Wolf’s position and that of the medical community by and large was “better safe than sorry.”

Ironically, the latest emergency declaration order expired last Thursday. To his credit, Wolf entered into talks with legislative leaders about how to proceed. Of course, Republicans pointed out “what choice did he have?” Wolf extended the order by another 30 days, but Republicans, even though they were consulted before he announced the action, reminded Wolf that they now have a place at the decision-making table. He could have unilaterally extended the declaration regardless of the primary vote, but even Wolf is not that naive to spit in the face of voters.

The amendments cannot take effect until the state certifies the election and does the required paperwork, which probably will take until early June.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.