Governor Dannel Malloy has consistently dodged questions about whether he'll run for re-election in 2014. According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, if he does run, he'll have a race on his hands.
Tom Foley, the Republican who narrowly lost to Malloy in 2010, ties Malloy 42-42 percent in the poll released on Tuesday.
Foley crushes his GOP competition, getting 36 percent of the vote from likely Republican voters, with only Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton polling in double-digits (eleven percent).
In head-to-head matchups, partisan voters, not surprisingly, show big preferences for their party's top candidates, with Foley getting 83 percent of Republicans, and Malloy taking 79 percent of Democrats. But the state's "independent," or unaffiliated, voter shows a fairly strong preference for Foley, 45-33 percent.
Malloy's approval rating is 48 percent, and voters are basically split on whether he should remain in office.
Voters like Malloy's leadership qualities at a 60 percent rate, and strongly support his newest initiative, a push for a $10.10 minimum wage (71-25 percent). That support just drew a visit from the Labor Secretary, and will draw an even bigger visit from President Obama on Wednesday in New Britain.
As for Obama's popularity in the state? He's at 45 percent -- his lowest ever.
