Democratic incumbent Gov. Dannel Malloy has the support of 47 percent of likely voters to Republican challenger Tom Foley’s 44 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday.
Seven percent remained undecided one day before the election. Independent candidate Joe Visconti dropped out of the race Sunday and threw his support behind Foley.
The results compare with results of an Oct. 29 Quinnipiac poll showing Foley with 46 percent of likely voters to Malloy’s 45 percent.
Republicans in the newest poll backed Foley 89 percent to 7 percent.
Democrats backed Malloy in the poll 86 percent to 10 percent.
Independent voters were divided with 44 percent for Malloy and 45 percent for Foley.
Malloy leads Foley 53-38 percent among women, while Foley leads 51-41 percent among men.
“Contrary to conventional wisdom, independent candidate Joe Visconti’s last-minute exit from the governor’s race doesn’t look like it will help Republican Tom Foley,” said Douglas Schwartz, director of the Quinnipiac University poll.
In the poll results released one day before the election, 89 percent of Connecticut’s likely voters who named a candidate said their mind was made up, while 11 percent said they might change their mind.
Voters gave Foley a split 42 percent to 44 percent favorability rating, while Malloy got a negative 43 percent to 49 percent score.
From Oct. 28 to Nov. 2, the poll surveyed 926 likely voters with a margin of error of plus/minus 3.2 percent.
Mr. Schwartz’s comment that Visconti’s exit and endorsement of Foley will not help Foley is, of course, absurd. How could his exit not benefit Foley on a net basis?? Mr. Schwartz knows that 99% (or perhaps even more than that) of Visconti voters are pro-2nd Amendment, virulently anti-Malloy voters. Why would not many (most?) of them NOT migrate to Foley on election day? If even a small portion (net) of them net out in Foley’s favor, that could easily tilt this deadlocked race to Foley.