PROVIDENCE – Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s approval rating for how he’s handled the COVID-19 pandemic is below all but one New England governor but still remains above the average among governors nationwide, according to a poll from the COVID-19 Consortium for Understanding the Public’s Policy Preferences Across States.
Of 437 Rhode Island residents surveyed online between Dec. 22 and Jan. 17, 44.4% said they approved of McKee’s handling of the pandemic, just above New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, who had the lowest approval rating in the region at 40.6%.
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Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican, had the highest approval rating in both New England and the nation at 61.5%. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, had a 55% approval rating, and Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, had a 54.7% approval rating. Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, had a 45.5% approval rating.
The consortium, which includes researchers from Harvard, Northeastern, Rutgers and Northwestern universities, has surveyed approximately 20,000 people in each state 20 different times since the pandemic since April 2020.
In the previous poll issued Sept. 21, 421 Rhode Island residents surveyed online between Aug. 11 and Sept. 7, 44.4% said they approved of McKee’s handling of the pandemic.
McKee’s highest approval rating was 59.6% in June 2021. Former R.I. Gov. Gina M. Raimondo, also a Democrat, had approval ratings above 70% three times before she left office to become U.S. secretary of commerce in March 2021: 74% in April 2020, 73% in early May 2020 and 71.4% in late June 2020.
Across the U.S., the national average of approval ratings for governors was 42% in this latest survey, following a trend of declines from 63.7% when the first poll was conducted in April 2020.
Sounds high.