SHU poll finds Stefanowski closing in on Lamont

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont”™s lead over Republican opponent Bob Stefanowski has shrunken to 3.4 percentage points, putting the race in a statistical tie, according to a new poll by Sacred Heart University and Hearst Connecticut Media Group.

The poll shows 39.5 percent of Connecticut voters support Lamont for governor compared with 36.1 percent who support Stefanowski. The poll also found that unaffiliated respondents prefer Stefanowski over Lamont, 43.2 percent to 24 percent.

Both candidates have strong support within their own parties, as 79 percent of Republicans support Stefanowski and 71.1 percent of Democrats support Lamont. The Democratic candidate is leading among female voters with 50 percent supporting him, compared with 25.2 percent of female voters who support the Republican. However, 47 percent of likely male voters support Stefanowski, compared with 29.1 percent of male voters who support Lamont.

Independent candidate Oz Griebel is the preferred candidate by 8.4 percent of likely voters, with an additional 13.7 percent of unaffiliated respondents leaning his way.

The survey, which has a 4.3 percent margin of error, comes about two weeks after a Quinnipiac University poll found Lamont leading Stefanowski by 8 points. SHU”™s previous poll in September found the Democrat leading by 6.2 points.

In addition, 73.7 percent of Connecticut voters “disapprove” of the job Dannel Malloy is doing as governor.

The telephone poll, conducted between Oct. 13-17, asked 23 questions of 501 state residents who are likely voters.

“Likely voters” responding to the survey are favoring Democratic candidates running for House of Representative seats by a 48.7 percent to 34.1 percent majority. That 14.6 percentage point difference is up slightly from the 13 percentage-point margin posted in September.

In other findings, more than one-half of Connecticut voters (52.1 percent) reported they “strongly” or “somewhat” agree with creating electronic tolls on state highways to help pay for highway improvements to relieve congestion. Also, 64.9 percent of Connecticut voters reported they “strongly” (47.1 percent) or “somewhat” (17.8 percent) agree with a question regarding the fairness of raising taxes on people with incomes over $1 million if the state cannot solve its budget crisis by cutting state services and spending.

As to how Donald Trump is handling his job as president, 35.1 percent of Connecticut voters approve, while 50 percent of unaffiliated voters disapprove.

Connecticut”™s gubernatorial election takes place on Nov. 6.