REPUBLICAN WITH STRONG NUMBERS IN TREMONT POLL KEPT OUT OF REPUBLCAN DEBATE
http://www.courant.com/politics/hc-pol-republican-debate-west-haven-20180221-story.html
Poll: Still No Clear Leader in CT Governor's Race
Christopher Keating
Hartford Courant
2/21/18
http://www.courant.com/politics/elections/hc-pol-ct-poll-no-clear-frontrunner-20180221-story.html
With less than nine months before Election Day, a new poll shows there is still no clear front runner in the crowded race to be Connecticut’s next governor.
The poll, by a Hartford-based public affairs and lobbying firm, says that 26 percent chose the generic “Democratic candidate’’ for governor as their top choice and 24.6 percent chose the “Republican candidate’’ for governor.
Among the named candidates, the leader was New Britain mayor Erin Stewart at 15.2 percent, followed by Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton at 11.1 percent. The two Republicans were followed by two well-known Democrats who have run in statewide races: former Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz of Middletown at 10 percent and Greenwich cable television entrepreneur Ned Lamont at 8.8 percent.
In a huge field, none of the other candidates exceeded 1 percent in the poll, according to Tremont Public Advisors managing director Matthew Hennessy. Tremont oversaw the poll of more than 1,000 Connecticut residents that was conducted between February 15 and 17.
The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
The candidates are scrambling for name recognition as the state party conventions are less than three months away. The Republicans will meet at Foxwoods resort casino on May 11 and 12, while the Democrats will meet at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford the following weekend.
Stewart is a newcomer in the race and was not mentioned in a similar poll by Tremont that was taken in December. Since then, Byswiewicz and Lamont have not moved much in the ratings. Bysiewicz was chosen by 9.6 percent in December and 10 percent in February, while Lamont was picked by 7.5 percent in December and 8.8 percent in the latest survey.
When the generic and named Republicans are added together, 50.9 percent of those surveyed said they would be voting for a Republican. The Democratic totals were 44.8 percent, Tremont said.
“State Republicans continue to have a good shot of taking the governor’s office and potentially have a candidate in Mayor Erin Stewart that might possibly blunt the historic electoral strength Democrats have with women voters,’’ said Hennessy, a longtime Democratic strategist.