Gov. Bill Walker has hit a new low in a quarterly opinion poll conducted by the national firm Morning Consult.<\/p>\n
Only 40 percent of Alaskans approve of the job Walker is doing, according to the poll released Tuesday. That\u2019s down from a 42 percent approval rating in July. The poll has a 5 percent margin of error.<\/p>\n
Morning Consult publishes a nationwide gubernatorial opinion poll each quarter. It polls 255,000 people nationwide \u2014 the number of people in Alaska wasn\u2019t released in the poll\u2019s methodology<\/a> \u2014 and releases approval and disapproval ratings for all 50 state governors.<\/p>\n Walker, who was elected in 2014, had high approval ratings in the poll until his 2016 decision to veto half the funding for the annual Permanent Fund Dividend<\/a>. The Alaska Legislature halved the dividend in <\/a>2017<\/a>, precluding another veto. Both actions were inspired by the state\u2019s multibillion-dollar deficit.<\/p>\n In early 2016, Walker had a 62 percent approval rating<\/a>, making him one of the 10 most popular governors in the nation. Only 21 percent of Alaskans disapproved of his work. Now, Walker is among the 10 least-popular governors in the nation.<\/p>\n By the start of this year, Walker\u2019s approval rating had sunk to 43 percent<\/a>. It has remained in that range since then.<\/p>\n Walker in August announced<\/a> he will run for re-election in 2018. To date, only one Republican \u2014 Michael Sheldon of Petersburg \u2014 has signed up with the Alaska Division of Elections<\/a> to run against Walker in 2018.<\/p>\n Several Republicans and Democrats have filed letters of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Those letters allow them to raise money for a gubernatorial campaign.<\/p>\n