In patch nine, there's not much approval or disapproval from a companion that's not in your party, meaning the ones you left in camp. I believe Gale still shows up a couple of times in the approvals even if he's left back at camp, but other than that, most of that stuff is already cleared up. It used to be different in much earlier patches, of course.
Still, when it happens, I tend to look at it as a tadpole issue, mingling minds. So while the character expressing approval or disapproval isn't actually there, I imagine they're connected enough via the tadpole to have feelings about whatever's going on.
