Quinnipiac released new numbers from the Connecticut Senate race this morning, and they show Linda McMahon, the former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO and the frontrunner in the GOP primary, gaining on Democratic state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Meanwhile, support for former Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT) — who seemingly dropped out of the race only to re-enter it — is picking up support in the Republican primary.
Against each of his GOP challengers, Blumenthal still comes out on top. He leads McMahon 50%-40%, he’s ahead of Simmons 54%-35%, and he’s in front of financial commentator Peter Schiff 57%-30%. This margin over McMahon, though, is thinner than it was in Quinnipiac’s July 13 poll, which put Blumenthal up 54%-37%.
In the GOP primary, the new Quinnipiac poll shows McMahon with 47%, Simmons with 30%, and Schiff with 14%. Since July 13, support for McMahon has dropped five points and support for Simmons — who came out with a new ad attacking McMahon this week — has risen by the same amount.
The TPM Poll Average of the general election gives Blumenthal a 51.4%-39.6% lead over McMahon, a 52.9%-35.9% lead over Simmons, and a 55.0%-32.1% over Schiff. In the GOP primary, the TPM Poll Average shows McMahon with 48.9%, Simmons with 28.7%, and Schiff with 13.9%.
The margin of error of the latest Quinnipiac poll is ±2.7 percentage points for the general election results and ±3.1 percentage points for the primary results. The GOP primary is August 10.
