The new Quinnipiac poll of the Connecticut Senate race shows Republican former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon seriously closing the gap against Democratic state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
The numbers: Blumenthal 51%, McMahon 45%. The survey of likely voters has a ±3.3% margin of error. In the survey from early August — which used a wider pool of registered voters — Blumenthal led by 50%-40%. The TPM Poll Average shows Blumenthal leading by 50.3%-43.0%.
[TPM SLIDESHOW: Bringing The Smackdown: Linda McMahon’s Campaign For Senate, And Her Colorful Pro-Wrestling Past]
Interestingly, the poll shows that Blumenthal’s personal rating remains high at 55%-39%, and he has a 70%-26% approval rating as state Attorney General.
“For Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, an elected official with a 70 percent approval rating, this race is surprisingly close. It is not that voters are wild about McMahon; her favorability rating is tepid. And many of her supporters are more anti-Blumenthal,” writes Quinnipiac polling director Dr. Douglas Schwartz. “The question is whether Linda McMahon can ride the anti-establishment, anti-Democratic wave to victory in blue Connecticut, a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican for Senator since Lowell Weicker in 1982.”
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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