LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — While Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders continues to dodge questions related to her office’s controversial purchase of a $19,000 lectern, voters are giving her approval ratings in the likes that haven’t been seen in two decades since another Huckabee held Arkansas’ top office.
According to the 25th annual Arkansas Poll released Monday by the University of Arkansas, Sanders sits at an approval rating of 48% – the lowest the statewide poll has seen since 2003 when then Gov. Mike Huckabee received a 47% approval rating.
The poll, in which a wide majority of respondents think of themselves as conservative, also found that Republican Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton had shrinking approval ratings. Boozman, who found himself with a 45% approval rating last year is now five points down. Cotton is also down six points compared to 2022’s approval rating of 48%.
Of the more than 800 randomly selected interviews, only 33% said they approve of the job President Joe Biden is doing in office. That’s compared to the 58% approval rating that former President Donald Trump received during his last year in office.
While the approval of the state’s elected officials seems to be decreasing, the university poll points out that an “overwhelming majority of respondents said they were ‘very satisfied or satisfied’ with state and local services.” These services include police protection, public libraries, parks and recreation, and colleges and universities.
On the other hand, areas voters seemed to have concerns with Arkansas’ public welfare system and the topic of K-12 public schools.
“These were also the two areas of highest dissatisfaction 20 years ago, showing the durability of that dissatisfaction over time,” the poll organizers said in a news release.
Respondents also said the economy is the most important issue facing Arkansans today.
According to this poll, Arkansans are felling more optimistic due to the governor’s leadership and that’s reflected in the 6-point increase in those that feel the state is headed in the right direction,” Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Sanders’ office said in statement. “Under the Governor’s leadership, Arkansans have more money in their bank accounts, families have choice in their education, more Arkansans are working, and businesses are flooding to the Natural State.”
The Democratic Party of Arkansas said the new poll numbers speak for themselves.
