Q-Poll crushes GOP dreams

In a just-released Quinnipiac Poll for CT-Senate, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal leads all Republican challengers by 35 to 47 points. And Blumenthal's approval rating among Connecticut's Republicans is an astounding 62%! This is very good news for the Democrats, anxious to hold on to a longtime "D" Senate seat.

This is the first Q-Poll taken since Sen. Chris Dodd announced his retirement and the AG jumped in the race.

In a statement just released by his campaign, Blumenthal said:

"I am pleased that Connecticut residents consider me a worthy Senate candidate, but polls don't vote, people do -- and the only vote that counts is the one on Election Day. This campaign will be exciting and hard fought, and I fully expect that the polls will tighten as the race goes on. I plan to continue what I've done for the last 20 years -- fighting hard for the people of Connecticut, listening to their ideas, earning their trust and, ultimately, continuing my public service.

I take nothing for granted, and I will work like an underdog."

In a head-to-head GOP matchup, Rob Simmons is leading Linda McMahon 37 - 27 percent, with Peter Schiff almost not registering at 4%, but a significant 28% are still undecided. The focus of the Republicans will have to be gaining a foothold with that undecided block, and that likely means we'll see an early start to the sniping at each other. The Republican convention is scheduled for May 21-22, just over four months away.

The other Democrat in the race, Merrick Alpert, obviously has an ongoing issue with getting his message out, with 93% of the voters surveyed saying they haven't heard enough about him to form an opinion. Of course, these numbers parallel Ned Lamont's from early 2006 when he first entered the Senate race, so there is definitely room for improvement.

But with Dick Blumenthal's numbers so staggeringly high, I expect we'll see any number of candidates from either party decide that now isn't the right time to take a long shot campaign to the absolute bitter end.

UPDATE: While I'm thinking about it, I do want to say that I totally despise when a polling outfit tries to make a cutesy, goofy headline out of their results. "Blumenthal Body Slams Republicans In Connecticut..." Because, you see, Linda McMahon is one of those Republicans, and she's the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.

GET IT???

I mean, c'mon! Quinnipiac has a reputation for doing serious numbers work, and then they let some self-aggrandizing blowhard (and we know who you are, too) write a header that would embarrass the editorial department of the New York Post!

I don't know how many times I've already said this, but if you're in the business of doing scientific polling and you then resort to a totally hacky title like that, you're in the wrong business! Try your luck at comedy in the Borscht Belt; they appreciate that level of "humor". In the meantime, just report the numbers and the great unwashed out there figure it out!

PS - I'm not against self-aggrandizing blowhards in theory (seeing as I am one), but I don't cotton to someone who runs a supposedly non-partisan polling organization trying to bestow editorial interpretation on the results. I make no claims that this blog is non-partisan.

Then again, I've only received a single donation from a Republican (and none from Democrats lately), so maybe I need to rethink my strategy here! ;)