QU poll gives Lamont double-digit lead over Stefanowski

PHOTO | Ned Lamont via Twitter Democrat Ned Lamont leads by 13 percent in the latest Quinnipiac University Poll.

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By Joe Cooper

A Quinnipiac University Poll says Democrat Ned Lamont holds a double-digit lead over Republican Bob Stefanowski in Connecticut’s governor race.

The poll says Lamont, a Greenwich businessman, holds a 46-33 percent lead over former financial executive Stefanowski, while Independent candidate Oz Griebel has support from 4 percent of the electorate and Libertarian party candidate Rob Hanscomb 1 percent.

Head-to head, Lamont’s lead balloons over his Republican counterpart to 53-37 percent, according to the poll, which drew from 1,029 Connecticut voters between Aug. 16 to Aug. 21.

Men are split on Lamont and Stefanowski at 40 percent and women, in the four-way race, favor Lamont vs. Stefanowski by a wide 50-27 percent margin.

Democratic voters favor Lamont over Stefanowski 81-3 percent. Republicans favor Stefanowski over Lamont 83-8 percent in addition to independent voters, with 37-30 percent favoring the former UBS Investment Bank executive over Lamont.

Lamont holds a 44-28 favorability rating and Stefanowski received a divided 33-31 percent favorability rating. About 35 percent of those polled said they didn’t know enough about Stefanowski to form an opinion, the poll said.

Seventy-percent of voters are either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the candidates for governor and 25 percent are “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied.”

Among the key debates in the governor’s race, 56 percent of voters said eliminating the income tax over eight years is not realistic. Stefanowski pledged to eliminate the 1991-enacted tax during his campaign.

Meantime, 63 percent of voters support raising the state’s minimum wage from $10.10 per hour to $15 per hour, which Lamont has advocated.

Connecticut’s status as a Democratic-leaning state, in addition to women voters, are carrying Lamont to his early 13-digit lead, said Quinnipiac Poll Director Dr. Douglas Schwartz.

Still, Schwartz said “there’s a lot of time until Election Day, and a number of undecided voters up for grabs.”

A total of 63 percent of voters said their vote in this year’s governor race will not be swayed by their opinion of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, whose approval rating was 25 percent.

"President Donald Trump seems to loom more largely in the minds of Connecticut voters than Gov. Dannel Malloy. Voters both approve and disapprove more strongly of President Trump," Schwartz said.