As Rhode Islanders dig out from the blizzard, a new poll from the Rhode Island AFL-CIO poll suggests that Governor Dan McKee’s reelection prospects might be even more buried.

The survey of 400 registered voters, conducted in January by Fleming & Associates, found that only 30 percent approve of the job McKee is doing as governor, and 31 percent have a favorable opinion of him.

The voters are more split on the direction of the state, with 44 percent saying they believe things are heading in the right direction and 44 percent saying they believe things are heading in the wrong direction.

McKee is facing a Democratic primary challenge this year from former CVS executive Helena Foulkes, who he beat by 3 percentage points in 2022. The poll found 26 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of her, and 18 percent have an unfavorable opinion.

"The question right now is how Dan McKee can get to 50 percent in the Democratic primary," said veteran pollster Joe Fleming. "It's an uphill battle for him, but there is still time.”

The bigger picture: It’s a double whammy for McKee because, after nearly five years as governor, the voters aren’t sold on his ability to do the job, or him personally. 

Foulkes has signaled that she plans to paint him as an incompetent governor, and the survey found that the No. 1 issue for voters is the failure of the westbound side of the Washington Bridge, which has been causing grief for drivers for two years.

The silver lining for McKee is that 55 percent of Democrats think he’s doing a good or excellent job, 53 percent of Democrats have a favorable opinion of him, and 50 percent said they’d vote to reelect him. 

Then again, an incumbent Democratic governor who isn’t facing a massive scandal should be much more popular among voters in his own party. Keep in mind that independents can vote in primaries. Only 24 percent of those voters have a favorable opinion of him, 20 percent approve of the job he's doing, and 19 percent said they'd vote to reelect him.

McKee has suffered from dismal polling results for much of the last year, with Morning Consult's quarterly survey of the nation's governors as an outlier. 

What else: The poll found that 50 percent of voters support raising taxes on the wealthy, compared with 35 percent who oppose it – a reminder that tax hikes on high earners remain far less toxic with the public than they are at the State House.

It also found that 63 percent of voters have a favorable opinion of the AFL-CIO, up from 56 percent last year, underscoring the union’s growing clout as they try to help McKee secure reelection.

When it comes to President Trump, 26 percent of voters said they have a favorable opinion, compared with 63 percent unfavorable. Lieutenant Governor Sabina Matos was also at 26 percent favorable, but her unfavorable rating was just 34 percent.