POLL: Gina Raimondo, Sheldon Whitehouse holding strong leads with election a month away
Democrat Raimondo leads the pack with 48 percent of the potential vote, compared to 34 percent for Fung, the Republican mayor of
Raimondo is not the only incumbent with an edge in
House Speaker
Arguably the most powerful politician in the state, Democrat Mattiello only needs to win reelection in his conservative-leaning Cranston House district. Nevertheless, only 23 percent of voters statewide who were surveyed approve of the job he is doing as speaker, while 40 percent disapprove. More than a third were unsure.
The responses were similar across party lines: only 22 percent of
Just about half (51 percent) of the registered
The survey of 561 randomly selected
"None of these numbers surprise me too much," said
Asked about a recent
"That said, it is not surprising that she is consolidating her support among
"But Fung and Raimondo have [both] significant problems with the electorate -- 43 percent of likely voters have an unfavorable opinion of Raimondo and 41 percent have an unfavorable opinion of Fung. This is going to make it difficult for either to move very much and I expect a slog from here until
Fung's campaign, in response to the poll, said that it "flat out rejects the results of this survey."
"Our internal polling has this race within the margin, and any poll that takes 10 days to get a sample raises serious questions about its veracity," said campaign spokesman
"The fact of the matter is, the people of
The Raimondo campaign, through its spokesman
Governor's race:
Rhode Islanders are divided on Raimondo's performance as governor. About 50 percent approve, 42 percent disapprove, 8 percent gave no opinion.
More have a generally positive opinion of Raimondo (46 percent) than Fung (40 percent). Negative opinions run close for both her (43 percent) and him (41 percent).
Trillo is seen far less favorably. Only 15 percent have a favorable opinion of him, 14 percent are neutral, 38 percent have an unfavorable view and 33 percent told the pollsters they don't know enough to say.
In simple head-to-head matchup, Raimondo led with 48 percent to 34 percent for Fung, 5 percent for Trillo and 1 percent or less for the other largely unknown contenders who include:
When the undecided voters were asked who they were leaning toward, Raimondo had 49 percent, Fung 36 percent, and Trillo 6 percent.
If there was ever any doubt who had the most to lose with multiple candidates in the race, the pollsters asked who would get their vote if their preferred candidate was not running; 53 percent named Fung, and only 9 percent named Raimondo.
The survey found that Whitehouse's challenger, Flanders, is still relatively unknown despite his legal résumé.
Despite Flanders' attempts to portray Whitehouse as out-of-touch, the poll found that more than half of those surveyed (55 percent) have a favorable impression of the two-term
Less than a third (31 percent) have a favorable impression of Flanders, 19 percent have an unfavorable opinion and three in eight (38 percent) have no impression at all.
The survey found high interest among the state's potential voters in the midterm election. Three-quarters told the pollsters they are "extremely" or "very interested" in the election; 9 out of 10 plan to vote.
Who was surveyed? The pool included
His reason is simple: "I am a retired schoolteacher, so I am definitely not voting for Raimondo, because she took our COLA away."
"I think she lies a lot," White added. He cited, as an example, Raimondo's ads painting
"I'm not excited about [Fung]," he said, "but I do feel like the
On the other side:
Among her reasons: "When she came on, things were not the best in the state of
Raimondo has made mistakes, she said, but: "She's acknowledged them. She's owned them. I respect her for that. I know she goes in with all good intentions. She weighs things before she makes decisions, and I think most of the time, they're based on knowledge."
Fung's made his mistakes too, like the police situation where the state police had to take over, Phillips said. "And he will not own that. That's the difference. He'll find excuses all over the place."
With reports from staff writer
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS POLL:>
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