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Governor Dan McKee has the lowest approval rating of the country’s 50 state chief executives, and the highest disapproval rating of any governor seeking reelection next year, according to the latest quarterly survey from Morning Consult.
McKee’s 40 percent approval rate is slightly lower than Iowa’s outgoing Republican Governor, Kim Reynolds, but his 44 percent disapproval rating was behind Reynolds and Maine Governor Janet Mills, a Democrat who recently announced plans to challenge Republican US Senator Susan Collins.
The news isn’t all bad for McKee: A 40 percent approval rating is substantially higher than several other polls this year about Rhode Island’s incumbent governor. For example, the University of New Hampshire survey published late last month pegged McKee at 24 percent approval, 71 percent disapproval.
Then again, McKee peaked at 60 percent approval during his first year as governor, and was still over 50 percent approval during the third quarter of 2023.
The bigger picture: There isn’t much of a fresh take to offer on the new Morning Consult numbers. We know the lay of the land.
McKee’s campaign will point out that at the same point in 2017, Gina Raimondo had a 41 percent approval rating and a 47 percent disapproval rating. And she easily won reelection a year later.
What they conveniently ignore is that Raimondo didn’t have a Democratic primary opponent in October 2017. Matt Brown didn’t open a campaign account until March of 2018, and Raimondo ended up winning that primary by more than 20 percentage points.
In McKee’s case, he already has a credible, better-funded challenger in Helena Foulkes, who only lost to him by 3 percentage points in the 2022 primary. And House Speaker Joe Shekarchi loves nothing more than the state’s Democratic powerbrokers pushing him to enter the race.
The rest of New England: Three of the region’s governors rank in the top 10 nationwide for approval rating
Vermont Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, has the highest approval in the country, at 74 percent; Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, is at 61 percent; and Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, a Democrat is at 59 percent.
New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte, a Republican, is at 53 percent approval, and Maine’s Mills was at 50 percent.
🤔 So you think you're a Rhode Islander...
Since the NBA season tips off tonight, can you name the former URI star from Pawtucket who played for the Providence Steamrollers?
(Answer at the bottom.)
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The Globe in Rhode Island
⚓ After his wife’s death, Scott Naso refused to allow his in-laws to visit with his daughter. Now a family court judge will decide the issue. My colleague Amanda Milkovits was in the courtroom for the first day of the trial. Read more.
⚓ A judge has sentenced a Rhode Island man who appeared to fake his death and flee the United States to avoid arrest to at least five years in prison for rape. Read more.
⚓ The US District Court for Rhode Island on Monday announced that it no longer has enough money “to sustain full, paid operations” because of the federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1. Read more.
⚓ A Rhode Island judge has found a Democratic South Kingstown councilman not guilty of assaulting a Republican party official, who had posted about the councilman’s previous drunken driving charges online. Read more.
⚓ In an opinion piece for Globe Rhode Island, Amy S. Nunn and Dr. Philip A. Chan urge CVS to expand access to injectable PrEP to prevent HIV. Read more.
You can check out all of our coverage at Globe.com/RI
Also in the Globe
⚓ Former Fall River mayor Will Flanagan sustained serious injuries in a stabbing Monday night and police are looking for a suspect, authorities said. Read more.
⚓ MBTA ridership took a nosedive during the pandemic. Will it ever fully recover? Read more.
⚓ Celtics beat reporter Adam Himmelsbach and NBA columnist Gary Washburn have a lengthy exchange about the upcoming Celtics season (following a devastting playoff loss to the Knicks). Read more.
⚓ Richard Culatta, the state's former chief innovation officer, is the latest guest at URI's Honors Colloquium to discuss the future of artificial intelligence at 5:30 p.m. You can watch here.
⚓ Leadership from The Miriam Hospital and Brown University Health are breaking ground on a $125 million renovation at 10 a.m.
Ernie Calverley was the NCAA scoring champion for the 1943-1944 season, and later played three years for the Steamrollers. He also went on to coach URI basketball for 11 seasons.
RHODE ISLAND REPORT PODCAST Ed Fitzpatrick talks to Maya Lehrer about the Rhode Island Deportation Defense Coalition's response to ICE raids. Listen to all of our podcasts here.
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