First Likely Voter Poll Puts Foley Ahead of Malloy

By Feroze Dhanoa

A Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters released Wednesday morning puts Republican Tom Foley six points ahead of Gov. Dannel Malloy for November’s election.

Connecticut likely voters said the Republican would do a better job of handling their two top issues, the economy and government spending, giving him a 46 to 40 percent lead.

Malloy’s leads 45 to 38 percent with women, while Foley leads 54 to 35 percent among men.

“In our first likely voter poll, Tom Foley has the edge but Gov. Dannel Malloy is certainly within striking distance,” Douglas Schwartz, director of the Quinnipiac University poll, said in the poll release. “Foley has a double-digit lead among the key swing group, independent voters. With eight weeks until Election Day, there are 6 percent undecided and another 30 percent who say they could change their mind.”

Schwartz said the challenge for Malloy would be to overcome his high negative favorability opinion, which is hard for an incumbent. The poll showed that 53 percent of Connecticut likely voters have an unfavorable opinion of the governor.

The survey of likely voters cannot be compared to prior surveys of registered voters.

See the full results of the poll here.

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