Another week, another messy poll for Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee.

A new survey from the University of Rhode Island pegs McKee’s job approval at 29 percent, down 26 percentage points from the same poll conducted last year. 

This year’s poll had McKee’s disapproval rating at 37 percent, and 34 percent said they weren’t sure. That’s an unusually high percentage of undecided polltakers for a governor who has been in office for more than four years.

The survey of 500 Rhode Islanders over the age of 18 was conducted online Aug. 1  through Aug. 18 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points. 

The bigger picture: McKee has complained both privately and publicly that he didn’t get enough credit for last year’s URI poll having him at 55 percent approval, but this year’s survey is in line with more recent polls from the University of New Hampshire, Salve Regina University, Morning Consult, and the Civic Health and Institutions Project.

If McKee’s team is looking for a silver lining, it’s that he leads a hypothetical four-way Democratic primary with 18.5 percent over Attorney General Peter Neronha (15 percent), former CVS executive Helena Foulkes (14.3 percent), and House Speaker Joe Shekarchi (7.3 percent). A whopping 40.6 percent said they weren't sure.

Then again, the idea that 80 percent of potential primary voters either support someone else or aren’t ready to back McKee is the latest indicator that the governor faces an uphill battle to reelection next year.

What else: You can read the full poll results here.

When it comes to the most important priorities for the governor and the General Assembly to address (respondants were asked to identify three issues), health care led the way at 62 percent, followed by housing (51 percent), building and repairing roads and bridges (41 percent), education (35 percent), aid to the poor (26 percent), dealing with crime (25 percent), protecting the environment (21 percent), and clean energy (9 percent).

The survey also focuses on the state’s housing crisis, with 93 percent of people saying housing costs are a problem and 72 percent saying they support some form of rent stabilization. The Providence City Council is planning to unveil a rent stabilization proposal before the end of the year.