Survey: GOP gov. candidates gaining slightly on Boughton
Hartford Business Journal
BY Joe Cooper
8/10/2018
Three Republican candidates for governor have made "modest gains" on Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton ahead of the party's primary next week, according to a new survey.
In the online survey released Friday by public affairs firm Tremont Public Advisors, GOP endorsed Mark Boughton received 31.5 percent of support from Republican voters ahead of the primary on Tuesday.
Trailing are Bob Stefanowski (21.5 percent), the former chief financial officer of UBS Investment Bank; David Stemerman (17 percent), a former hedge fund manager from Greenwich; and Tim Herbst (15.6 percent), the former first selectman of Trumbull. Steve Obsitnik (11.4 percent) landed fifth in the poll.
Stefanowski, Stemerman and Herbst each shortened the gap between them and Boughton since Tremont's July 23 poll.
But despite the progress, Tremont Managing Director Matt Hennessy said the other Republican candidates "aren't gaining ground fast enough to catch Boughton."
"Absent the complete collapse of support for one of Boughton's rivals whose supporters then switch en masse to another candidate, or an unusual surge of new Trump voters on primary day, it appears Boughton will hold onto his lead," Hennessy said.
The survey identified New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart as the leading candidate for Connecticut's lieutenant governor post. A Tremont survey in April said Stewart, then running for governor, was the state's top governor candidate.
That survey also said almost 58 percent of Connecticut residents would rather select a Republican over a Democrat (39 percent) on Election Day Nov. 6.
The winner of Tuesday's GOP primary will face the winner of the Democratic gubernatorial race between Ned Lamont, a Greenwich businessman who won the party's endorsement, and Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim.
Tremont's latest survey drew from 1,151 self-identified and registered Republicans from Tuesday through Thursday this week.