Rhode Island
URI poll: Confidence in R.I. election systems is high, but voters concerned about political violence, A.I. – The Boston Globe
The latest survey polled 500 state residents between Aug. 15 and Sept. 8. The results were released Tuesday, with a margin of error of 6 percentage points.
“While there are national polls that also focus on American confidence in election administration, our survey results offer a detailed snapshot of Rhode Islanders’ levels of trust in election authorities and systems and trust in government as well as attitudes about democracy, media, policy, and political participation in the state,” Emily Lynch, a professor of political science at URI, said in a statement.
“The survey results indicate that Rhode Islanders trust state election systems, but at the same time they have concerns about the upcoming election in a number of areas, such as AI-generated fake political information and political violence,” Lynch continued.
Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said they believe votes are “very often” counted accurately in Rhode Island elections and campaigns. Twenty-nine percent said votes are counted accurately “somewhat often,” another 13 percent said “not often,” and 8 percent believe votes are “not at all often” tallied accurately.
Results also show most respondents have a “great deal or fair amount of trust in election authorities,” from poll workers up to the state Board of Elections and Department of State, as well as in the state’s voting machines, pollsters said.
However, that trust wanes a bit when it comes to mail ballot drop boxes and using the U.S. Postal Service to mail a ballot: Just 34 percent and 35 percent of Republicans had at least “a fair amount” of trust in those two methods, respectively. Eighty four percent of Democrats and 43 percent of independents feel that way about both of those voting options.
There is also a partisan divide over voter fraud.
“A majority of Republicans and independents are somewhat or very concerned about voter fraud – specifically noncitizen voting, citizens voting more than once, vote tampering, and people claiming to be another person in order to vote,” pollsters said. “Democrats lagged on all four questions – with the highest level of concern (37 percent) found with regard to vote tampering.”
Still, majorities of Democrats (85 percent), Republicans (79 percent), and independents (73 percent) think political violence “is a somewhat or very big problem in the U.S. today” and a “smaller majority of all three are concerned about civil unrest after election day in Rhode Island,” the survey found.
Meanwhile, approximately six in 10 respondents said they are worried artificial intelligence will “somewhat or greatly hurt the election process.”
Seventy-nine percent of Republicans, 77 percent of Democrats, and 77 percent of independents indicated they are “somewhat or very concerned about the use of AI-generated political media, such as fake images or video, and support state legislation to ban AI-generated political media,” according to poll results.
In the presidential election, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris holds a firm lead amongst Rhode Island voters over former President Donald Trump, polling 53 percent to 27 percent, respectively. In the U.S. Senate race, most of those surveyed backed incumbent Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, or 52 percent, over the 24 percent who said they will vote for his Republican challenger, state Representative Patricia Morgan.
The results also showed an increase of five percentage points – up to 22 percent – of Rhode Islanders who consider the state’s economy “very or somewhat strong.”
Respondents also indicated they largely back more state spending on schools, housing, and road repair.
Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.
Three generations of a family, including a two-year-old girl, have been killed during a driving lesson after their car plunged into a Rhode Island river.
Police received a report that a car had driven into the Seekonk River in Pawtucket on Sunday evening at the small boat-launching area, The Boston Globe reported.
After hours of searching for the submerged car, authorities pulled it out of the water Monday afternoon. The 45-year-old woman, a 22-year-old woman and the two-year-old girl inside the car were found dead.
Pawtucket resident Josue Gomez told The Globe it was his wife, Floridalma Arceno, their daughter, Linora Sucely Gomez, and their granddaughter, Ana Sofia Garcia Gomez, who were killed in the accident.
Gomez said Arceno was teaching their daughter how to drive with their granddaughter in the car when his wife called him in a panic and said, “‘It won’t brake, it won’t brake.’’
“It was the last thing she said to me,” he said.
Pawtucket Police Chief Tina Goncalves told reporters that a “Good Samaritan riding a jet ski in the vicinity heard the car enter the water and attempted to help,” The Providence Journal reported.
“While this was occurring, another individual called 911, and first responders were on scene within 3 minutes,” Goncalves said.
Gomez said he hurried to the boat ramp Sunday evening, but the car was already submerged.
Police tried to find the car, but suspended the search around 1 a.m. Monday due to poor conditions, according to reports.
The search resumed Monday morning, and by around 2:30 p.m. ET, a tow truck pulled the car out of the water.
“They were good people,” Gomez told The Globe.
The Independent has reached out to the Pawtucket Police Department and the Rhode Island Office of the State Medical Examiners for comment.
Authorities called it a “tragic accident,” and said there were no indications of foul play, according to reports.
“Preliminary findings suggest the vehicle was in proper working order,” Pawtucket Detective Sergeant Paul Trout said in an email to The Globe.
Pawtucket Mayor Donald R. Grebien called the incident a “heartbreaking tragedy” in a statement shared with the media.
“Our community mourns alongside them, and we want them to know they are not alone during this unimaginable time,” Grebien said.
Hear about the $30 million in infrastructure money for Tidewater
Pawtucket’s Tidewater Landing project gets $30 million for infrastructure
PROVIDENCE – Former CVS executive Helena Foulkes still leads Gov. Dan McKee by double-digits in the Democratic primary race for governor, but her whopping 34-point lead of last April has shrunk to 20 points in the wake of McKee’s TV attack ads, according to a new University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll.
The survey sampled 337 likely 2026 Democratic state primary voters, 145 likely Republican state primary voters and 664 likely general election voters between June 18 and June 23.
Among the key findings of the survey:
If the Democratic primary had been held while the survey was underway, 42% of likely primary voters would have chosen Foulkes and 22% would have chosen McKee, with restaurant owner Gregory Stevens and Wil Gregersen each getting 1%, the poll said. Thirty-one percent of respondents were undecided.
“Pluralities of moderates (46%), liberals (46%), and progressives (46%) support Foulkes, while two-thirds of socialists (66%) are undecided. McKee does best among those aged 65 and older (31%) but still trailsFoulkes (46%) among this group,” according to this poll.
McKee has narrowed the gap somewhat since the last UNH poll in April, when 45% of likely primary voters chose Foulkes and only 11% McKee.
Bottom line: Incumbent McKee, a former Cumberland mayor and lieutenant governor who has been governor since his predecessor Gina Raimondo quit mid-term in March 2021, “remains quite unpopular among likely Democratic primary voters: only 18% have a favorable opinion of him, 56% have an unfavorable opinion,” according to the poll released on Tuesday, June 30.
And then there’s this: In a hypothetical matchup between Foulkes, whoever emerges as the Republican nominee and independent Ken Block, the poll showed 38% of likely general election voters would vote for Foulkes, 22% would vote for the Republican nominee and 19% for Block.
If, however, McKee won the Democratic nomination, the potential matchup “would be very close,” with both McKee and Block getting 27% of the likely general election vote and the GOP nominee 23%; 2% would vote for another candidate. Twenty-one percent were undecided, according to the poll.
The poll is the latest in a string of bad news for the 74-year-old McKee, including his failure to clinch the endorsement of the state Democratic Party on June 20.
Depending on how you do the math, he fell three votes short of the endorsement, making him the first Democratic governor in Rhode Island to fail to win his party’s endorsement for a reelection bid since the modern primary system was created in 1948.
In the days since, Foulkes has racked up city and town Democratic committee endorsements, while McKee has only won endorsements from Pawtucket and North Providence Democrats. On Tuesday, June 30, he touted one more from the East Providence Democratic City Committee.
But McKee campaign spokeswoman Sophie Mestas hailed the poll as evidence that “the more Rhode Islanders learn about Helena Foulkes – a corporate executive who built her career on cutting healthcare access and fueling the opioid crisis – the more they want no part of her empty promises.
“More Rhode Islanders now view her unfavorably than favorably, and it’s not hard to see why,” Mestas said. “Rhode Islanders know the difference between a Governor who delivers for them and an executive who cashed in at their expense – and they’re choosing the Governor who’s always fought for working families.”
Her statement reflects disputed allegations in McKee’s TV ads about Foulkes’ record.
On the Republican front, those surveyed chose retired comedian Elaine Pelino, who has campaigned almost exclusively on Facebook (38%), over the state GOP’s endorsed candidate, Aaron Guckian (19%), an advance man and driver for former Gov. Donald Carcieri who most recently worked for the Rhode Island Dental Association.
Flying athletes in with the Special Olympics Airlift
Getting athletes to the games takes more than airplanes. Textron Aviation coordinates the effort while AccuWeather provides forecasting support to make weather-informed decisions.
Rhode Island athletes took home five gold medals, nine silver medals and 11 bronze medals at 2026 Special Olympics USA Games in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which wrapped up on June 26.
The Rhode Island Special Olympians left for the games in private jets provided by Textron on June 15. A total of 50 members, including 24 athletes and their families, traveled to represent and cheer on Rhode Island.
“Once we went to the hangar on the way out to Minnesota, and there was a big rally, my husband Steve and I were looking at each other saying, ‘This is big. This is huge being invited to the USA games,’” Rena Megrdichian, mother of softball player Garen Megrdichian, said. “I guess we just didn’t realize what an honor this whole process was.”
After preliminary events on June 22 to group athletes accordingly, the medal rounds across multiple sports began the next day.
Rhode Island picked up three gold medals, three silver medals and four bronzes in bowling, swimming, powerlifting and track and field events on June 23. Despite the heavy medal count for the smallest state, one athlete’s finish went viral on social media.
Thomas Poirier, of North Providence, was placed in lane 5 of group 4 in the 400-meter after finishing fifth in his preliminary race with a time of 1:20.54. The race started, and Poirier hustled as hard as he could, but coming into the final 100 meters, he found himself in fourth place. Then, he kicked it into another gear. He passed the runner in third, then second and suddenly he was gaining on the leader he was about 25 meters behind just a few seconds prior. With 25 meters left to go, Poirier passed Noah Lamusga, of Minnesota, and took the lead and the gold medal.
Poirier finished with a time of 1:17.24, three seconds faster than his time in the preliminaries.
“I saw my time in the prelims, and I was like ‘That’s good, but I just need to work harder,’ and so I did,” Poirier said.
The clip of him running the final 100 meters and his post-race interview where he says, “Rhode Island… I’m coming home golden,” currently has over 100,000 likes on Instagram.
“At first I was a little embarrassed, but I slowly and surely got used to it,” Poirier said. “I’m not used to getting fame like this.”
Poirier’s mom, Dora, was able to attend the games with her husband and daughter, Poirier’s twin sister. When they saw Thomas cross the finish line, the only emotions they could convey were shock and tears of joy.
“We couldn’t believe it,” Dora said. “We’re like, ‘Oh my god, he actually might do this.’ I honestly couldn’t believe that he did it. We hoped he would come home with something. I was so happy for him, overjoyed.”
Dora said that the family had no idea that Thomas had gone viral until later that night. They had received a few videos of friends recording the TV when the race first ended, but they kept receiving more videos, and that’s when they realized he had his viral social media moment.
Thomas also competed in the 200-meter run and 4 x 100-meter relay, where he won silver in both with a time of 30.59 and 1:07.83, respectively.
Thomas noted that the quick turnaround to compete in the three events was hard, but he knew he had to power through.
“It was definitely a little hard, but I slowly adapted to it, and I gave it my all,” Thomas said. “In the end, that other guy was just a little faster, but I still gave it my all, and I’m happy with what I came home with.”
Another one of Rhode Island’s five gold medals came from the softball team. The team had lost its first two group stage games 17-8 and 18-3 against Delaware and Connecticut, respectively, on June 22. They were able to salvage one win, a 12-9 victory against Arkansas the next day, before losing to Florida in its final group stage game on June 24.
The team suffered a couple of injuries during the group stage games, one of which was Jamar Abney, who suffered a hand injury in the final group stage game. Abney’s injury was a rallying cry for the rest of the team as they developed a slogan, “Win for Jamar,” that would define the rest of the team’s run, according to Special Olympics Rhode Island President and CEO Edwin Pacheco.
In the first game of the medal round, Rhode Island was paired up against Arkansas once more. The team was down 9-3 at one point but rallied back in extra innings to pull off the 11-10 win and advance to the gold medal game.
“The enthusiasm, the excitement that came from the team was just contagious,” Pacheco said. “You think about all the memorable moments, whether it be the Red Sox or the Patriots, and these come-from-behind wins that people still talk about 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years later, that game between Rhode Island and Arkansas was one of those moments.”
In the championship, it was another rematch, this time with Connecticut. No miracles or comebacks were needed in this game, though, as Rhode Island won 21-7 to take home the gold.
“I feel like in the gold medal match, I thought we had a lot of energy coming into this game,” said Garen Megrdichian, of Hope. “We had some urgency, and we had some confidence, so I’m really happy that we got the gold medal, and I’m just happy for our guys.”
Garen’s mom Rena attended the games and watched her son and his team’s run to the gold medal. The emotions ran high throughout the week.
“The nail-biting and anxiety that the parents go through watching them go through all this, it really was a nail-biter,” Rena Megrdichia said. “We couldn’t be more proud. We really couldn’t be more proud of what not only Garen accomplished, but this whole team, how they came together, [and] how they supported one another.”
She spoke about the team’s camaraderie despite the struggles and the emotions all the parents felt after they took home the gold.
“They just kept saying, ‘We’re going to win this for Jamar,’ and not only did they FaceTime Jamar right after the game, [but they also] called his mother to say we won this for Jamar. So, the support they all had for each other – we were just in tears. It was just one of those times where they overcame being beaten down and not doing well, and then all of a sudden, they turned it around, and they did very, very well.”
Megrdichian’s mom noted that the teams, despite it being a competition, all became friends with one another.
“They want to play each other again,” Rena Megrdichia said. “That’s how much playing against them meant to them that they would love to get together again and play these teams again. Because it was so fun for them and they really enjoyed it.”
Poirier and Megrdichian both described just getting the call that they had made it to the USA Games as a “dream come true,” and that earning the gold medal just added to an already incredible experience.
Special Olympics Rhode Island invites any Rhode Islander with an intellectual or developmental disability to join the organization and participate in a sport at no cost, according to Pacheco.
Find the full results of the USA Games here.
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