Democrat Dannel Malloy holds a 9-point lead over Republican Tom Foley in the first poll of likely voters in the election for governor, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll.
The poll, released Wednesday morning, shows that 8 percent are still undecided and 26 percent could change their mind before the November 2 election.
Each candidate holds a commanding lead among his core supporters. Among Democrats, Malloy leads by 86 percent to 8 percent, while Foley leads among Republicans by 83 percent to 14 percent, according to the poll.
Malloy, the former mayor of Stamford, won the Democratic primary in August, while Foley won the Republican contest on the same day. Recently, they have both been broadcasting television commercials to spread the word about their campaigns in a high-stakes battle that will be decided on Tuesday, November 2.
The battle is likely to be fought over the unaffiliated voters, which is the largest block of voters in Connecticut. Among those voters, the two combatants were tied at 42 percent. The poll, taken between September 8 and 12, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
The early polls have shown Malloy as the front-runner. Even before the primaries, the Quinnipiac Poll showed that either Malloy or his Democratic opponent, Ned Lamont, would defeat any of the Republican primary contenders, including Foley.
Malloy had been a strong supporter and ally of Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez in his 2006 bid for governor. Perez had rallied support for Malloy among Hartford delegates, and he appeared with Malloy when the candidate unveiled his crime plan that summer at a church in Hartford's North End. This year, Perez switched his support and voted for Lamont in May as a delegate at the Democratic state convention. Perez was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday after being convicted by a jury on multiple felony charges in a long-running corruption scandal in the capital city.