A week ago, I posted the results of multiple polls showing Linda McMahon's fav/unfav numbers and they were brutal. it's caught up with her, even with the R-friendly Q-poll out today (and as a Connecticut based poll with media-friendly outreach, this poll tends to set state narrative. Too many reporters have been too lazy to look at the Big Picture.)
Quinnipiac, Oct 7-11 (Sept 28), MoE +/- 2.9
Blumenthal 54 (49)
McMahon 43 (46)
In a nutshell, women and independents in CT (the largest registration group) are coming home. From the Q-poll data:
"Fueled by a surge in support from women, Democrats and independents, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has his best poll numbers since the start of the fall campaign."...
Independent voters shift from 49 - 44 percent for McMahon September 28 to 49 - 44 percent for Blumenthal today. Women back Blumenthal 63 - 32 percent while men back McMahon 52 - 46 percent. ...
"Linda McMahon may have peaked too soon and her advertising saturation could be causing ‘McMahon fatigue.’"
That gender gap remains key for Democrats all over the country, but in CT, Linda's 'oh, wrestler deaths from steroid abuse and employer exploitation on my watch as CEO are no big deal, it's just soap opera' schtick isn't playing well. And that's true even after the media-savvy McMahon could do no better than a draw in the debates with Blumenthal, who hammered her on her WWE experience and minimum wage gaffe. She hit him on his Vietnam statement and job creation, but Blumenthal's likability and trust factor trumped the Vietnam misstatements, and McMahon's CEO tenure at WWE loses her cred on what it actually means to be a businessman. In fact, the NY Times, which broke the story on Blumenthal's Vietnam misstatements, endorsed him today:
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the Democrat, has led the way in attacking the tobacco plague, helped clean the region’s environment and supported hundreds of individuals treated unfairly by their health insurance companies, utilities or banks...
We have larger concerns with the Republican, Linda McMahon. She made her name and lots of money by running World Wrestling Entertainment, a noisy, demeaning business. Her policy positions, when you can discern them, are remixes of failed trickle-down ideas.
She has aligned herself with groups that oppose the minimum wage — even though she now says she would not cut this meager safety net. She essentially expects voters to take it on faith that she will do as well in government as she did in spectacle wrestling.
She is ready to spend as much as $50 million of her own money to win the race, but she does not seem ready to take on the issues of war, the economy, public welfare and justice in Washington.
It's politics, and anything can happen, but going into the homestretch, McMahon and the Chamber and the rest of the Republicans look to be behind with a candidate that people don't like, who is running against someone they do. The only liberal thing about McMahon is her spending, and that won't be enough to win. More from the Q-poll:
With only three weeks left in the campaign, McMahon is down by 11 points with only 3 percent undecided. Even if she won all the undecided, she still would fall short. This has been a very unusual election year, however, so anything is possible."
Likely voters approve 69 - 26 percent of the job Blumenthal is doing as attorney general and say 57 - 38 percent they have a favorable opinion of him.
McMahon gets a split 46 - 46 percent favorability.
So, cheer up, Democrats. Some voters will come home. It's happening in Connecticut.
Dick Blumenthal's campaign page.