A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday gives Tom Foley, the Republican challenger in the governor’s race, a six-point lead over incumbent Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy. This news comes less than eight weeks before Election Day.
Likely Connecticut voters say Foley would do a better job than Malloy in handling the economy. "Foley also does better than Malloy on other pocketbook issues, for example on taxes voters prefer him," said Doug Schwartz, director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. "On government spending, voters prefer Foley. On gun policy and education, however, voters prefer Malloy by a small margin."
Joe Visconti, running as a petitioning candidate, is polling at seven percent.
The latest poll is a big turnaround from a Quinnipiac Poll released in September 2010, when Malloy and Foley first ran against each other.
2014:
2010:
"Things can certainly change over these two months. That's what campaigns are for."
Doug Schwartz
"When we polled this time four years ago, Malloy had a nine point lead and in the end Foley was able to make up a lot of ground and only lost by about half a point," said Schwartz. "Things can certainly change over these two months. That's what campaigns are for. We'll have debates. We'll have ads."
One piece of work Schwartz said is still left for the governor: chipping away at an unfavorable rating of 53 percent. "That's going to be tough to do. Voters have already formed their opinion of him. Those are high negatives when 53 percent say they have an unfavorable opinion of the incumbent, someone that they've known now for four years," said Schwartz. "But what he can do is influence the opinion of about a quarter of voters who don't know enough about Foley to form an opinion."
In 2010, Malloy's unfavorability rating was just 21 percent.
