Former wrestling executive Linda McMahon has taken the lead among Connecticut Republicans running for the U.S. Senate, but is trailing Democrat Richard Blumenthal in the general election race, the Associated Press reports.
The Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday shows McMahon with the support of 44 percent of Republicans. Former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons garners 34 percent while Fairfield County money manager Peter Schiff has 9 percent. Twelve percent of registered Republicans say they’re undecided.
It’s a blow to Simmons, who led Sen. Chris Dodd in the polls until the veteran Democrat announced his retirement in January. And while Simmons trailed Blumenthal in a Quinnipiac Poll conducted in January, he also had been ahead of McMahon.
“What explains Linda McMahon’s rise in the polls? Money,” said Poll Director Douglas Schwartz. “She is the only Senate candidate on TV right now. She quickly has become as well-known and well-liked among Republicans as the former front-runner.”
McMahon’s campaign released a statement Wednesday saying voters are “rejecting the politics of the past in favor of a fresh face and a new approach.”
Simmons’ campaign on Wednesday criticized McMahon’s tactics.
“It should be no surprise to anyone that after six months and millions and millions of dollars in uncontested spending, including on misleading negative attack mail against Rob Simmons that Factcheck.org deemed riddled with falsehoods, that Linda McMahon would be able to buy an improvement in her polling,” Simmons’ campaign statement said.
In a potential general election matchup, McMahon trails Blumenthal, 61 percent to 28 percent.
Blumenthal, the state attorney general, is leading Simmons, 62 to 26 percent, and Schiff, 64 to 21 percent, in other potential general election races.
Blumenthal is far ahead of his rival for the Democratic nomination, Mystic businessman Merrick Alpert, 81 to 6 percent.
From March 9 to 15, Quinnipiac interviewed 1,451 registered voters by telephone. Of those, 549 were Democrats and 387 were Republicans.
The poll has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points. For the questions asked of Republicans, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 5 percentage points. For the Democrats, it’s plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
