Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy showed weakly in a recent Quinnipiac University poll, with 47 percent of those surveyed disapproving of the governor, compared with 43 percent who approved.
This compares to a 48 percent approval rating, with 46 percent disapproval, in a May 9 survey by the Hamden university.
The poll was conducted March 6-9, surveying 1,235 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. It also gauged respondents”™ takes on marijuana, tolls, gambling and assisted suicide.
In the poll, men disapproved of the governor”™s performance, 52 percent to 40 percent, while women were divided, with 45 percent approving and 43 percent disapproving.
Disapproval of Malloy was 78 percent to 17 percent among Republicans and 54 percent to 36 percent among independent voters. Democrats approved, 64 percent to 22 percent. In a press release, the pollsters called that score among Democrats “anemic.”
Fifty percent of Connecticut voters are optimistic about the next four years with Malloy as governor, while 44 percent are pessimistic, according to the poll results.
“Gov. Dannel Malloy starts his second term in the hole,” Quinnipiac University Poll Director Douglas Schwartz said in the press release. “It is the first time he has been in negative territory since a June 2012 poll.
“When a Democrat scores only 64 percent among Democrats and is under 50 percent among the base, women and young people, you know he is in trouble,” Schwartz said.
Voters agreed 62 percent to 29 percent that the current legal gambling in Connecticut is good for the state. No party, gender or age group disagreed. But voters said, 75 percent to 20 percent, that there should not be more casinos in Connecticut. Again, no party, gender or age group disagreed.
Voters at a rate of 59 percent to 36 percent opposed a proposal to allow the two Native American tribes currently operating casinos in the state to open new smaller casinos near New York and Massachusetts. Only voters 18 to 34 years old supported the idea, 54 percent to 46 percent, the pollsters said.
Connecticut voters supported allowing adults to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for personal use, 63 percent to 34 percent. Voters also supported by a 67 percent to 28 percent margin reducing the penalties of small amounts of illegal drugs for personal use from a felony to a misdemeanor.
By 82 percent to 15 percent, voters supported elimination of mandatory minimum sentences for possession of small amounts of illegal drugs, and allowing judges to decide sentences on a case-by-case basis.
Voters at a rate of 63 percent to 31 percent supported allowing doctors to legally prescribe lethal drugs to help terminally ill patients end their own lives. All party, age and gender groups supported the idea, including voters over 55 years old, who supported it 59 percent to 34 percent.
Voters opposed putting tolls on state highways, 61 percent to 36 percent, with opposition from all party, age and gender groups.
But voters supported tolls if the money was to be used to repair the state’s roads and bridges, 59 percent to 40 percent. There was little difference among Democrats, Republicans and independent voters.
