Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat seeking a third term as Connecticut’s governor, had a commanding lead of 58% to 38% over Republican Ryan Fazio in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
Despite Fazio’s campaign spending $7.2 million for ads on broadcast, cable or streaming television since July, 30% of those polled said they hadn’t heard enough to express an opinion about the 36-year-old state senator from Greenwich.
“This is the biggest lead a candidate for governor in Connecticut has had in two decades since Jodi Rell led John DeStefano by 24 points in Quinnipiac University’s Nov. 1, 2006 poll,” said Doug Schwartz, the poll’s director.
Rell was a Republican still riding a wave of goodwill 18 months after a corruption scandal forced the resignation of Gov. John G. Rowland and she succeeded him. She was reelected with 63% of the vote.
Lamont is a hardly a fresh face. The new poll found the prospect of a third term for the 72-year-old Lamont is generating relatively little passion: Only 30% of his supporters described themselves as “very enthusiastic,” while 54% were “somewhat enthusiastic.”
Fazio did better on the enthusiasm measure: 46% of his supporters were “very enthusiastic” about their choice and 42% “somewhat enthusiastic.”
But Lamont has the numbers, a favorable tail wind and a string of positive polls.
Lamont has not trailed in any public poll, with an average lead of about 15 percentage points in the four surveys released over the past four weeks.
President Donald Trump remains a drag on the GOP, with a job approval rating nearly 40 points under water: Only 29% of voters approve of the president’s performance, while 67% disapprove.
Connecticut Republicans remain loyal to the president, with 78% approving of his performance and 17% disapproving.
Lamont’s job approval was comfortably above water, 53% to 40%.
The economy and cost of living were the most important issues identified by voters, and Lamont was deemed more capable in those areas. Among likely voters who say the economy was most important, Lamont was favored, 73% to 25%; on cost of living, Lamont was favored, 67% to 30%.
To those who see taxes as most important, Fazio was favored, 77% to 23%.
The poll of 1,225 likely voters was conducted from Oct. 8-12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. Quinnipiac polls using live interviews, reaching voters by random digit dialing to a mix of landlines and cell phones.
