Poll: Democrat Ned Lamont’s lead halves in Connecticut governor race

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont (D) has seen his lead over Republican challenger Bob Stefanowski cut in half in their gubernatorial race, according to a poll released Tuesday.

In the Quinnipiac University poll of likely Connecticut midterm voters, Lamont leads with the support of 47 percent of respondents while Stefanowski trails at 43 percent. Independent candidate Oz Griebel received the support of 7 percent of likely voters in the poll.

{mosads}The poll shows a significant gain in support for Stefanowski over a previous Quinnipiac poll earlier this month, in which Lamont led his opponent by 8 percentage points, while 11 percent supported the independent candidate.

Lamont’s overall support level of 47 percent remained unchanged between the two polls.

Just 4 percent remain undecided in the race, according to the latest poll, but 13 percent of respondents who named a candidate they are supporting said that their vote could potentially change within the last week of the election, which is set for Nov. 6.

Quinnipiac’s pollster Douglas Schwartz said in the news release that any further drop in support for Griebel could benefit Lamont, as Griebel’s voters often list the Democrat as their second choice.

“Independent candidate Oz Griebel is no longer in double digits. Will he end up fading by Election Day, as often happens to third party candidates?” wrote Schwartz. “If so, that could end up benefiting Democrat Ned Lamont, who is the second choice of Griebel voters.”

In the same poll, Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy (Conn.) held a comfortable lead over his Republican opponent, business owner Matthew Corey, 56 to 41 percent.

Quinnipiac’s poll contacted 1,201 likely voters in Connecticut between Oct. 22-28, and contains a margin of error of 4 percentage points.