A new poll from the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that 58% of respondents approve of the way Gov. Maura Healey is doing her job. That's up slightly from the last time the poll was conducted in April.
Thirty-one percent of Massachusetts residents who were polled said the housing shortage and affordability was the one issue they'd like to see Healey and the state legislature focus on in the coming year.
Slightly more than half of respondents indicated the governor needs to do a better job addressing it.
Immigration and homelessness followed as the issues respondents want to see addressed, with 12% and 11% respectively.
Tatishe Nteta, the director of the UMass Poll at UMass Amherst, said Healey is viewed extremely positively.
But he added, "there's not divided government. There's really no excuse — at least in the eyes of many voters — given the control of the state legislature by Democrats and now the corner office by a Democrat, to not take on these problems head first."
Nteta said the data on housing, in particular, is a warning sign to Healey.
"This is likely going to be the central challenge that she has to face if she doesn't want to just be a one-term governor, if she wants to... repeat as governor," he said.
Last week, Healey unveiled a plan to spend more than $4 billion to increase the availability of affordable housing in the state.
