As I read it in the Wall Street Journal, Alaska has been trying to get the name changed since 1975. The opposition has come from Ohio until this year. Ohio stayed out of this go round. So, the change went through.
Except that the main pushback (not including this forum) is coming from folks in Ohio, home state of President McKinley. Thus the main ideology at work seems to be parochialism, not anti-Obama-ism.