- Ted, it's good to be with you.

A new poll by Salve Regina University's Pell Center gives us a look into how Rhode Islanders feel about several elected officials.

Let's start with Governor Dan McKee's job approval rating.

Only 34% of voters approve of McKee's performance as governor, while 56% disapproved.

Now these numbers are slightly lower than in the Pell Center's previous poll in June, but, Ted, overall, these are not good numbers for McKee.

- No, it's not where he wants to be, Michelle.

I'd say once you account for the margin of error in a poll, he's basically flat from the last poll dated in June, but that's bad news because he wasn't in good shape in June.

He's still not in good shape now in September.

And, you know, I know the 2026 election for governor feels far away to people, especially with a big election right around the corner, but what I've learned over many years of covering politics is the year before the election really sets the table for the election year.

And that's when, you know, key influential people decide, "Who am I backing?

Who's strong, who's weak?"

Fundraising numbers are important.

And I think McKee with numbers like this is gonna struggle to make the case that he can win again, at least, you know, win convincingly to fellow Democrats and union leaders, people like that, unless we see a sudden turnaround.

- And that struggle is why you hear more prominent Democrats talking about potentially running for governor in two years.

- Right.

Helena Foulkes, obviously the former CVS executive, she's been running against him basically since the day the last primary ended, so that's not a surprise.

But you see how Speaker Joe Shekarchi very clearly signaling he's waiting in the wings if and when Dan McKee decides this isn't gonna work out.

Then we saw this week Secretary of State Gregg Amore, another Democrat with a lot of good connections, telling Dan McGowan at "The Boston Globe" he'd be interested if McKee doesn't run.

That's just not the kind of thing you would see if these Democrats, they can read a poll, didn't think there was a real chance McKee's not the Democratic.

Because both of them, I should say, say they will not run against McKee, which means they're saying they're not sure McKee will be running.

- Now, one name that we have heard as a possibility running against McKee is Peter Neronha, the attorney general.

This survey tested his job approval rating for the very first time.

41% of voters approve of the job that Neronha is doing as AG, while 26% disapprove.

Nearly one third of voters have no opinion of him.

Overall, it sounds like he's in positive territory, but if you're Neronha and you're term-limited as AG, what do you do with all of this voter enthusiasm?

Where do you go?

- That's the question, Michelle, right?

As you said, he has talked about running for governor, but I'd say more recently, Attorney General Neronha's been pretty clear he's not gonna run for governor.

He's close to Helena Foulkes.

I think he's likely to support her if current trends continue.

Certainly won't support McKee.

Those two do not get along very well.

Neronha told me a couple weeks ago that he wishes he could run for a third term for attorney general.

That's what he loved to.

He loves his current job.

He can't because of term limits.

So that's the question he's left with.

Some people are talking about could he run for Lieutenant Governor.

The downside is very little authority and power in that office.

The upside is he has the bully pulpit.

He is a known figure, so he'd get attention if he wanted to talk about issues like healthcare, and climate change, things that matter to him.

There is an incumbent Democrat of course, Sabina Matos, but her numbers were pretty weak in this poll as well.

And it's widely expected she will probably get a Democratic primary challenge too.

So Neronha at least is gonna be floated for that.

- It's also eye-opening that nearly one third of voters have no opinion of Neronha, who has been attorney general for six years.

- Yeah, and we saw even higher unknowns for some of the other elected officials in this survey, Michelle, which is a good reminder to you, to me, to the people watching a program like this that many voters don't pay close attention to state affairs, don't have strong opinions, which is why sometimes we can be surprised at election time.

- Alright, let's look at what the Pall Center found when voters were asked about Rhode Island's congressional delegation.

Longtime US Senator Jack Reed leads the list with a 60% job approval rating, the highest of any elected official in the survey.

US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is at 49% approval.

Congressman Gabe Ammo is at 47% approval in the first house district.

And Congressman Seth Magaziner is at 42% approval in the second district.

All of these officials except Reed are on the ballot this year.

What do you make of these numbers?

- Well, first Reed's durable strong approval rating is kind of remarkable.

He's been the top-polling elected official around as long as I've been a reporter here.

He's not up for election, as you said, until 2026.

The others, they're not up in the stratosphere, relatively speaking, where Reed is.

But, you know, being in the 40s is pretty comfortable positioning for a Democrat in a Democratic state like Rhode Island.

Certainly the two freshman congressmen have worked to do to get better known among voters still.

They've only been in office a year or two.

But, you know, you saw elsewhere in the poll that they are all up by double digits in their efforts to win reelection because they're facing little-known underfunded Republican challengers in a Democratic state in a presidential year where the Democratic presidential nominee will probably win.

So that's why these folks look to be in very good shape, even if they're not up at Jack Reed level approval ratings.

- Yeah, so still encouraging numbers for them?

- Yeah, I think they're fine with this.

They'd always like it to be higher, but they're fine with this.

- [Michelle] Thanks so much, Ted.

Good to see you.

- Great to be here.