Remember that deep sucking sound from my prior post? The first poll is out about Dick Blumenthal’s entry into the U.S. Senate race, and the news is not good for the GOP. Rasmussen is one of the most accurate pollsters on the planet. The GOP will need to dig up dirt on Dick to change these numbers. See Rasumussen poll below:
Longtime Senator Chris Dodd announced yesterday he will retire rather than run for reelection, and Democratic prospects in Connecticut have suddenly gotten a lot better. Richard Blumenthal, the state attorney general, announced his candidacy yesterday, and he leads all potential Republican challengers by wide margins.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Connecticut, taken last night, now finds Blumenthal leading former GOP Congressman Rob Simmons 56% to 33%. A month ago, Simmons had a 13-point lead over Dodd.
Linda McMahon, the ex-CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, trails Blumenthal by a 58% to 34% margin. She led Dodd by six.
Long-shot candidate Peter Schiff, the widely known president of Euro Pacific Capital, was essentially even with Dodd but now trails Blumenthal by more than two-to-one – 60% to 24%.
“With a single announcement, Chris Dodd transformed the Senate race in Connecticut from one that leaned in the GOP direction to a fairly safe bet for the Democratic Party,” noted Scott Rasmussen, president and founder of Rasmussen Reports.
Fifty percent (50%) of Connecticut voters favor the health care plan currently working its way through Congress while 48% are opposed. That’s a much higher level of support than is found nationally. Thirty-six percent (36%) favor a single-payer health care system, similar to the national average.
Connecticut voters are pessimistic when it comes to the War on Terror. Just 28% believe the United States and its allies are winning while 31% believe the terrorists are winning. Confidence is down nationally as well but is not that low.
Forty percent (40%) of voters in the Nutmeg State say our legal system worries too much about protecting individual rights at the expense of national security. Twenty-four percent (24%) have the opposite view and say that our system worries too much about national security at the expense of individual rights. Another 24% say the balance is about right, while 11% are not sure.
President Obama is viewed favorably by 56% of Connecticut voters, little changed from a month ago. These findings are well ahead of Obama’s job approval ratings in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
(Check out my daily webzine at www.onlyinbridgeport.com)
One thing is for sure, Lennie Grimaldi won’t be enlightening any of us on the pros and cons of any of these candidates. He’s an entrenched democrat, who smugly concentrates on telling us how republicans can’t win, framing the issue by casting republicans as country club drunks with turds in their punchbowl.
Local Eyes, you are eying the wrong candidate.
Blumenthal is an opportunist. I am wary of any pol whose entry was so clearly determined by Dodd’s exit. He dominates after a 24-hour campaign that’s produced no news. He will not be so fortunate going forward.
Savvy political onlookers are urged to consider Merrick Alpert who long ago announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate.