A new poll commissioned by the CT Examiner found the races for Connecticut governor and for the U.S. Senate are tightening as the election approaches.
The poll, published Saturday, found Governor Ned Lamont (D) leading Bob Stefanowski (R) 46-40 percent, with 5 percent favoring Independent Party candidate Rob Hotaling, and 10 percent undecided.
Additionally, the survey found U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D) leads Leora Levy (R) 49-44 percent, with 7 percent undecided, and Levy finding favor with independent voters at 54 percent, over Blumenthal at 37 percent.
RealClearPolitics has shifted the Connecticut U.S. Senate race from “Likely Dem” to “Lean Dem.”
Respondents were asked to say which issue, from a list provided, “is personally most important to you in deciding your vote for Governor.”
The survey found 24 percent said “inflation and the rising cost of living” was the most important issue, while 14 percent answered “jobs and the economy,” 11 percent said “abortion,” and 9 percent replied “taxes.”
Participants were also asked, “Generally speaking, would you say that things in Connecticut are headed in the right direction or would you say that things are headed off on the wrong track?”
Of the respondents, 46 percent said Connecticut was headed in the right direction, and 51 percent said the state was on the wrong track. Only 4 percent did not know.
Additionally, 53 percent said they “disapprove” of the job Joe Biden is doing, while 43 percent “approve.”
According to the CT Examiner, Onotse Omoyeni, press secretary for the Lamont campaign, said the polling showed that Stefanowski’s platform on social issues, specifically “Bob’s extreme anti-choice and anti-gun safety positions – coupled with his constant negativity – continue to turn voters against his candidacy.”
Regarding abortion, however, Stefanowski, is actually a pro-choice Republican, though he would support a parental notification provision, for minors seeking an abortion, added to Connecticut’s abortion rights law.
“This survey demonstrates the momentum I’ve been feeling on the ground for weeks,” Stefanowski told CT Examiner, adding:
Governor Lamont has had four years to fix the state and he’s failed. Higher taxes are making inflation worse, people feel less safe, and our state economy is tanking. More people every day realize that one-party rule is failing us and it’s time for a change.
A spokesperson for Blumenthal’s campaign, said the incumbent Democrat would continue to move forward.
“Senator Blumenthal is working to be Connecticut’s choice for the Senate while his opponent is Donald Trump’s choice,” Ty McEachern said, referring to the fact that former President Donald Trump has endorsed Levy. “As always, he’s focused on his job, delivering results for the people of Connecticut. He will continue to work like he’s 10 points behind.”
Levy’s campaign spokesperson, nevertheless, said that the numbers reflect “the reality of this race.”
“Leora Levy is in a margin-of-error, neck-and-neck race with Dick Blumenthal, a career politician with a 37-year head start,” Tim Saler said, according to CT Examiner. “Dick Blumenthal is under 50 percent despite spending more than $5.3 million dollars on advertising since the middle of June.”
Levy has made parental rights in education one of the central features of her campaign, a position that is welcomed by most parents regardless of political affiliation.
“From traveling the state, I know parents are incredibly worried about what is happening in Connecticut schools,” Levy said in a statement sent to The Connecticut Star.
“There was historic learning loss after the teachers unions and the politicians who work for them kept our schools closed too long, ignoring the warnings of experts, scientists, and indeed the parents who know their children best,” she added. “Now, instead of focusing on the fundamentals like math, reading, writing, science, real American history, and most importantly – critical thinking, students are being indoctrinated into a woke political agenda as we saw at Cos Cob Elementary just a few weeks ago.”
Levy explained how her own family background made an impact on her:
My family escaped Castro’s regime in Communist Cuba where the government inserted itself between parent and child. That is wrong. My opponent Dick Blumenthal sides with radical political activists over Connecticut parents. We cannot afford six more years of rising prices, lawlessness in our communities, an invasion at our border and the indoctrination of our children. This election is about ensuring that all Americans today, and for generations to come, can achieve their own version of the American Dream.
The survey’s findings suggest a significantly closer race than presented by the Quinnipiac University poll results, released mid-September, with 1,911 likely voters participating. That poll, which excluded Independent gubernatorial candidate Hotaling, found the Democrats leading by double digits in both the governor’s and Senate races.
The Quinnipiac poll was released several days after Robert Cahaly, chief pollster and founder of The Trafalgar Group, asserted one consequence of Joe Biden’s venomous attacks on Trump supporters is these Republicans have now become “submerged voters.”
In a speech on September 5, Biden assailed Trump supporters, or “Trumpies,” as he called them, as a threat to American democracy.
“[T]he extreme MAGA Republicans in Congress have chosen to go backwards, full of anger, violence, hate and division,” Biden said.
“Extreme MAGA Republicans don’t just threaten our personal rights and our economic security,” he added. “They embrace political violence.”
I call this new group “submerged voters”. They aren’t putting stickers on their cars, signs in their yards, posting their opinions, or even answering polls. At this point I think it’s fair to say that Biden’s pursuit of and attacks on “MAGA Republicans” has created an army of
— Robert C. Cahaly (@RobertCahaly) September 17, 2022
“Now that the Biden administration has essentially classified ‘MAGA Republicans’ as a threat to democracy marshaling federal law enforcement to focus on them,” Cahaly said, “This move has created a new type of voter that will be even harder to poll or even estimate.”
The CT Examiner/Fabrizio, Lee & Associates poll was conducted from October 10-13 with a total of 1,200 likely voters and a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Dick Blumenthal” by Blumenthal and “Lenoa Levy” is by Levy.
