The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
State voters split on governor’s race
HARTFORD — An online poll found Connecticut residents are split on whether a Republican or Democrat should replace Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who isn’t seeking re-election.
A survey released Monday by Tremont Public Advisors found that of the 1,154 residents 49.8 percent would elect a Democrat and 50.3 percent would elect a Republican.
“There is good and bad news for both Republicans and Democrats in the survey results,” Matthew Hennessy, managing director of Tremont Public Advisors, said Monday. “For Republicans to be neck and neck with Democrats in a state Hillary Clinton won by over 13 points has to heartening. However, it also shows that after months of attempting to tie the state’s fiscal woes and voter dissatisfaction of Governor Malloy to the next Democratic candidate for Governor, they just haven’t made a convincing case.”
At the same time, “Democrats have to be happy their candidates aren’t being significantly blamed for Connecticut’s woes. But, it just shouldn’t be this close,” Hennessy said.
“At this point, Connecticut residents aren’t connecting local Republicans with a very unpopular President Donald Trump, which is good news for the Connecticut GOP,” he said.
There are 22 Republicans vying for the top spot and at least six Democrats looking to replace Malloy.
The survey was conducted between Dec. 12 and Dec. 14 and has a three percent margin of error.
The governor’s race is currently being considered a “toss up” by the Cook Political Report, which changed its outlook on the race in June.
“Solidly blue Connecticut seems an unlikely place to host a competitive gubernatorial contest, but the state’s economy is in tough shape as companies like General Electric and Aetna decamp to more business friendly states and the state budget is $5 billion in the red. Republicans will be very competitive here,” the report found.