Governor Dan McKee won’t be on the ballot again until 2026, but a new poll shows he is building momentum following his easy general election victory last year.
The survey from Morning Consult shows the Democratic governor’s approval stood at 50 percent between January and March, while his disapproval rating was 37 percent.
McKee’s approval rating was still near the bottom of the pack among the nation’s governors – five had lower ratings than McKee – but it has risen steadily since last year. His predecessor, Gina Raimondo struggled with low approval ratings in Morning Consult’s polling throughout her tenure, but she still won reelection relatively comfortably in 2018.
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Three New England governors ranked in the top 10 for best approval ratings: Vermont Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, was far and away the most popular governor, at 78 percent approval; New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, a Republican, was No. 3 in the country with a 66 percent approval rating; and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, was tied for No. 6 at 61 percent.
This marked new Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey’s first time in Morning Consult’s gubernatorial polling, and she checked in with 55 percent approval against 21 percent disapproval. That puts her in the middle of the pack nationally. Her predecessor, Republican Charlie Baker, regularly ranked among the nation’s most popular governors.
Morning Consult polls the approval rating of governors in every state on quarterly basis. The company didn’t release the number of voters its surveyed in Rhode Island, but it said that the margin of error in all states was between one and five percentage points.
This story first appeared in Rhode Map, our free newsletter about Rhode Island that also contains information about local events, links to interesting stories, and more. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.
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Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him @danmcgowan.