Internet poll shows Foley up 9 points over Malloy

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley holds a nine-point lead over Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, according to a new Internet poll released today by the nonpartisan YouGov group.

The survey, which was done in partnership with CBS News and the New York Times, does not rely on the more traditional telephone surveying or probability sampling – such as that performed by Quinnipiac University. The last Quinnipiac poll, released in June, had Foley and Malloy in a dead heat.

The YouGov poll found Foley leading 42 percent to 33 percent. It also found another 6 percent of voters leaning toward Foley with 8 percent leaning toward the Democratic governor. Among the rest, 4 percent said they favored another candidate while the remaining 8 percent indicated they wouldn’t vote or were undecided.

Foley led among men, 51-26, while Malloy held a 42-29 advantage among women.

Republicans favored Foley 81-5 while Democrats favored Malloy 72-12. Among unaffiliated voters, the single-largest voting group in Connecticut, Foley held a 50-15 advantage.

“Any poll that shows us up 8 or 9 points is good news,” Foley said. “It confirms what I’m hearing from people as I travel around the state. … People are fed up and they don’t feel Governor Malloy is solving the problems.”

“We don’t comment on polls or online surveys like this because what can you say? Polls come and go, numbers go up and down,” Malloy campaign spokesman Mark Bergman said. “But the choice in this election is clear. The Governor always does what he thinks is best for the state and the right thing to do which is why Connecticut has made progress over the last four years. The Governor knows there is more work to do, but Connecticut can’t afford to go backward which is exactly where Tom Foley or John McKinney’s failed policies would take the state.”