Republican Linda McMahon continues to slice into Democrat Richard Blumenthal's once overwhelming lead in the U.S. Senate race. She now trails the popular attorney general by just 6 percentage points, according to this morning's Quinnipiac University poll.
McMahon has been steadily chipping away at Blumenthal's popularity for months. In the March 17 Q poll, he trounced her by a 2-1 margin; in May, immediately after the controversy over his Vietnam war misstatements, Blumenthal still led by 27 percentage points. By August, McMahon was within 10 and now she has cut his lead to 6. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
"With seven weeks to go and lots of money to be spent, anything can happen,'' Q poll Director Doug Schwartz said.
UPDATE: McMahon spokesman Ed Patru had this to say (via email): "Voters are beginning to see that Dick Blumenthal doesn't have the right kind of experience to create jobs and put people back to work, and I think we'll continue to see his support erode as voters learn about both his record of support for higher taxes and his plans to force a national energy tax on families that will raise electricity bills by nearly $1000 per household, raise the cost of gas by 68 cents a gallon and cost Connecticut another 13,600 jobs."
A significant percent of McMahon's support can be attributed to voters' desire for anybody but Blumenthal: 42 percent said they view their vote as against Blumenthal rather than for McMahon.
"For Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, an elected official with a 70 percent approval rating, this race is surprisingly close,'' Schwartz said. "It is not that voters are wild about McMahon; her favorability rating is tepid. And many of her supporters are more anti-Blumenthal."
"The question is whether Linda McMahon can ride the anti-establishment, anti-Democratic wave to victory in blue Connecticut, a state that hasn't voted for a Republican for Senator since Lowell Weicker in 1982," Schwartz said.