The Little Rock School District Board will consider at its next meeting whether to expand its community school model into two new schools, Mabelvale Elementary and Mabelvale Middle School.
A protracted pandemic, a contentious legislative session, and a contrarian stance against Trumpism may have taken a toll on Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s job approval rating with Arkansas voters.
But that’s a far cry from last October when voters’ opinions gave him a 69-23% rating. Nearly a year ago, Hutchinson boasted a 62-19% job approval rating during the height of social protests and a spike in coronavirus cases.
Q: Do you approve or disapprove of the job Gov. Asa Hutchinson is doing?
52% Approve
12.5% Don’t Know
“I don’t think the governor will lose sleep over these numbers. There are a lot of governors in other states who would welcome these results,” said Roby Brock, Talk Business & Politics Editor-in-Chief. “However, it’s clear that his positives have declined and his negatives have risen. Judging by some other results in our polling yet to be released, I’d say there is plenty of discontent among voters.”
30% Approve
31.5% Don’t Know
“These results mostly follow trends we’ve seen before,” said Roby Brock, Talk Business & Politics editor-in-chief. “In recent years, statewide and national Democrats have been upside down in their approval ratings, and Sen. Boozman, a long-serving Republican officeholder, has traditionally been a mixed bag of undecided opinions. It’s unique to him. We’ll have to see if this election cycle is different.”
Biden lost Arkansas in the November 2020 election by a 62-35% margin. In previous polling, Boozman, who is seeking a third six-year term in 2022, has had job approval ratings that have typically been one-third approve, one-third disapprove, and one-third undecided. Boozman is facing three potential challengers in the GOP primary: Michael Deel, Heath Loftis and Jan Morgan.
A new Talk Business & Politics-Hendrix College poll of 535 Arkansas voters shows Biden and Boozman with negative job approvals, although Boozman has a large undecided block on his performance.