Connecticut voters are standing by Richard Blumenthal, even as he continues to face strong criticism for misrepresenting his military record.
At least that's the main finding of an internal poll of 602 likely voters conducted by the Blumenthal campaign last week, right after the New York Times disclosed that Blumenthal had, on several occasions, incorrectly implied that he served in the Vietnam War.
Al Quinlan, Blumenthal's pollster, said his survey, taken May 19 and 20, puts the Democratic attorney general's personal favorable rating at 55 percent, compared with an unfavorable rating of 28 percent.
And it's not because people aren't familiar with the story of Blumenthal's military embellishments. More than 90 percent of those polled said they knew about the story.
But because the poll was commissioned by the Blumenthal campaign, it is already drawing scorn from the campaign of Linda McMahon, one of his Republican opponents.
"I think the public understands Dick Blumenthal at this point is in 100% damage control mode, and this poll is part of that effort,'' McMahon spokesman Ed Patru said. "Nobody believes his untrue statements about Vietnam have made him more popular, but that is what Dick Blumenthal's latest poll would have us believe. Perhaps his pollsters misstated something in the numbers.''