Poll: McKee job approval at 29% as most Rhode Islanders say state is on wrong track

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Gov. Dan McKee continues to receive poor marks from Rhode Islanders, who feel gloomy about the future of the state, according to a new survey.

The University of New Hampshire Survey Center “Ocean State Poll” of 598 Rhode Island registered voters found only 29% approve of the job McKee is doing as governor, while 65% disapprove. Both numbers were the same in May.

McKee’s job approval in the UNH poll is slightly lower than it was in a survey of likely voters released late last month by Salve Regina University’s Pell Center, which had the governor at 36% approval.

12 News political analyst Joe Fleming said the survey results should be a warning to McKee and his inner circle as they look ahead to his reelection campaign in 2026. Former CVS executive Helena Foulkes — who nearly defeated McKee in the 2022 primary — has already been raising money to challenge him for a second time.

“This is two polls now we’ve seen with the governor’s numbers low,” Fleming said. “He has to start doing something to turn that around, because we’re starting to see a track record in these numbers.”

UNH said McKee is underwater with all political groups: he has a 42% job approval rating among Democrats, 21% approval among independents and 9% approval with Republicans.

Fleming said the biggest worry for McKee should be his low approval rating in his own party.

“That’s a very concerning number, since Democrats do very well in Rhode Island, which says to me if I’m a Democrat looking to run for governor I could think about challenging him in a primary,” he said.

In a separate UNH poll of likely Massachusetts voters, Democratic Gov. Maura Healey’s job approval rating fell from 52% in May to 45% in July, while her disapproval rating inched up from 38% to 46%.

The survey of 598 Rhode Island voters was conducted online from July 11 to July 15, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The Massachusetts poll surveyed 509 voters online over the same dates, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

Researchers at UNH’s States of Opinion Project, which conducted the surveys, described Rhode Islanders as “deeply pessimistic about where the state is heading.” Only 27% of voters say Rhode Island is headed in the right direction, while 60% say the state is on the wrong track. Democrats narrowly say the state is on the right track, by a margin of 43% to 40%.

“That number has been on the negative side for the longest time,” said Fleming, who has been conducting polls in Rhode Island for decades. “Sometimes it gets up to even, but not better than that.”

Asked to name the most important problem facing Rhode Island, housing came first (cited by 16% in the poll), followed by infrastructure (15%), jobs and the economy (13%) and corrupt or incompetent government (11%).

“Nearly half of Democrats mention housing or infrastructure as the most important problem facing the state, independents are more likely to mention the state budget or cost of living, and Republicans are more likely to cite immigration as the most important problem,” according to UNH.

Massachusetts voters were far more likely to say their state is headed in the right direction, with 49% saying so, according to UNH. They described housing and immigration as the Bay State’s biggest current policy challenges.

In Rhode Island, UNH also asked residents about the Washington Bridge crisis and this November’s ballot question about whether Rhode Island should hold a state constitutional convention.

On the Washington Bridge, 56% of Rhode Islanders said they used the bridge at least a few times a month before last December’s closure of the westbound side; 71% said they have used the bridge since the closure; and 46% said they have used detour routes to avoid the bridge since the closure.

Nearly half of those surveyed — 48% — said their trips are typically 10 to 29 minutes longer due to the bridge closure, while 29% said the delays are even higher than that and 8% said the delays are less than 10 minutes.

Unsurprisingly, the survey showed little public awareness about the constitutional convention question, which is required to be put on the ballot in Rhode Island every 10 years. Just over half of those surveyed — 53% — said they had heard “nothing at all” about it so far. And only 36% said they feel like they understand the topic.