Today’s Q Poll shows again why moolah matters. But the gubernatorial race is still wide open.
Tom Foley will continue to maintain a nice lead until the largely unknown GOP gubernatorial candidates launch their faces and voices electronically.
On the Democratic side Ned Lamont leads former Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy by 10 points. Lamont is loaded, and like Foley will burn his own dough. Malloy doesn’t have that luxury, but leads in political support which should bump his name recognition if he secures the endorsement at the party convention in May. Then it’s on to a hotly contested August primary.
Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz has a commanding lead over former State Majority Leader George Jepsen for the Democratic nomination for attorney general. That will change as the relatively unknown Jepsen, who has party support, builds name recognition and frames SuBy as a shameless self promoter who’ll be campaigning for Joe Lieberman’s U.S. Senate seat if she’s elected AG. Oh, wait, isn’t Susan already campaigning for Joe’s seat? Why wait until the last minute. A state judge will decide if SuBy has the legal credentials to hold the AG job.
The Q Poll:
“Undecided” is the big leader in the Democratic and Republican primary race for Governor, but former ambassador Tom Foley has gained some ground in the Republican race.
Among Democrats, 44 percent of voters are undecided, while businessman Ned Lamont gets 28 percent to Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy’s 18 percent. No other candidate tops 4 percent.
On the Republican side, Foley has emerged as a leader in the primary campaign with 30 percent, but 50 percent are undecided. No other candidate tops 4 percent.
“Like Linda McMahon, Tom Foley is the only candidate for governor who is on TV, which helps him break away from the Republican pack. Even Foley, however, is largely unknown to Republicans and the big winner is still undecided,” Dr. Schwartz said.
Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz leads the Democratic primary for Attorney General with 54 percent, followed by former State Sen. George Jepsen at 10 percent, with no other candidate topping 2 percent and 31 percent undecided.
Undecided gets 66 percent of the Republican vote, with 13 percent for State Sen. Andrew Roraback and no other candidate above 9 percent.
Lamont gets a 43 – 13 percent favorability among Democrats, with 42 percent who don’t know enough about him to form an opinion.
Bysiewicz gets a 59 – 10 percent favorability among Democrats, with 29 percent who don’t know enough.
For all other candidates for Governor or Attorney General, the “don’t know enough about them” number among voters in their own party is 55 percent or higher.
Connecticut voters approve 59 – 34 percent of the job Gov. Jodi Rell is doing and disapprove 59 – 28 percent of the job the State Legislature is doing.
“Despite negative headlines, Susan Bysiewicz is still way ahead in the Democratic primary for Attorney General. One has to wonder how long she can maintain her big lead if the various controversies surrounding her campaign continue.”
From March 9 – 15, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,451 Connecticut registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points. The survey includes 549 Democrats with a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percentage points and 387 Republicans with a margin of error of +/- 5 percentage points.
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