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Poll Shows Boughton Still Leading The GOP Pack

COURTESY OF SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY
Republican candidates for governor on stage during a debate at Sacred Heart University on Tuesday. From left: Mark Boughton, Tim Herbst, Steve Obsitnik, Bob Stefanowski and David Stemerman.

A poll of Connecticut Republican voters finds the party endorsed candidate for governor, Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, is still ahead in the five-way gubernatorial primary.

The poll was released just ahead of Tuesay's primary election by Tremont Advisors, a federal lobbying firm with offices in Washington D.C. and Hartford. 

It finds Boughton with 31.5 percent support. That’s a drop from where he was in the Tremont poll a month ago, but still 10 points ahead of Bob Stefanowski, a former business executive from Madison. Stefanowski has 21.5 percent support. Former Greenwich hedge fund manager David Stemerman has 17 percent support, and former Trumbull First Selectman Tim Herbst has 15.6 percent support. Steve Obsitnik, an entrepreneur from Westport, has 11.4 percent support.

“What is going on is as this race is coming to its conclusion and the spending has been pretty considerable by the parties. Boughton's lead has come a little bit and Stefanowski, Herbst and Stemerman are trying to chip away at his lead," said Matt Hennessy, managing director of Tremont Public Advisors. "And they are getting a little bit of progress with that, but you know we are four days out at this point and it’s unlikely from our data that Boughton will lose the primary. It looks like he will hold on to his lead.” 

The Stefanowski Campaign is challenging the findings of the Tremont poll. It released a statement calling the poll statistically insignificant. It calls Hennessey a Democrat lobbyist and a Hartford insider. But Hennessy defends his polling. He says Stefanowski should make public his polling methods that show him ahead in the race.

The Tremont Poll surveyed 1151 Connecticut Republican voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

Ann is an editor and senior content producer with WSHU, including the founding producer of the weekly talk show, The Full Story.