Three polls were released Wednesday for next week’s Democratic primary in Massachusetts, and they all show Sen. Ed Markey with a clear lead over his intra-party challenger, Rep. Joe Kennedy.
The closest result came from Data for Progress, which gave the incumbent a 50-43 advantage. While Data for Progress, which is a progressive think tank with a polling arm, has not endorsed in the race, it has openly expressed a preference for Markey through its newsletter, Primaries for Progress.
Suffolk University’s new poll found Markey with a larger 51-41 edge. The last Suffolk poll was done in late February, and it had Kennedy in the lead 42-36. Finally, YouGov also surveyed the contest for UMass Lowell and showed Markey ahead 52-40. Two weeks ago, WCVB and another college, UMass Amherst, released their own YouGov survey that found the senator ahead 51-36.
We’ve only seen one other survey this month of this contest, a mid-August SurveyUSA poll that had Markey up only 44-42. That poll was done on behalf of Priorities for Progress, which is not connected to Data for Progress and is instead affiliated with the pro-charter school and anti-teachers union organization Democrats for Education Reform.
While recent numbers overall look good for Markey, there’s reasons to be cautious heading into the final week. This will be the first primary in Massachusetts history where voting by mail will be widely available, and no one is quite sure what the turnout will look like.
Also this week, Markey picked up an endorsement from Al Gore, who lauded the senator as a champion of the environment.
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