Chris Dodd (D-inc): 39 (34)
Rob Simmons (R): 45 (50)
Undecided: 13 (12)
Chris Dodd (D-inc): 41 (37)
Sam Caligiuri (R): 39 (41)
Undecided: 17 (17)
(MoE: ±2.5%)
Still terribly ugly, but at least the trend is in the right direction. Perhaps all the positive press Dodd got regarding his just-passed credit card legislation has been helping. Let's just hope we don't see any renewed feeding frenzies over Countrywide, AIG or the like.
Quinnipiac also took a look at some primary matchups:
Rob Simmons (R): 48
Sam Caligiuri (R): 10
Undecided: 39
(MoE: 5%)
As Q notes, it's pretty disturbing that a nobody like Merick Alpert - unknown to 91% of Democrats - should already be pulling a quarter of the primary vote as an "ABD" choice.
And finally, Quinnipiac asked a free-answer question about why exactly voters like and dislike Dodd:
In an open-ended question, allowing for any answer, 34 percent of voters who approve of Dodd list his experience and/or ability as the main reason.
For those who disapprove, 24 percent list Dodd's overall dishonesty or lack of integrity, with 17 percent who cite his failure to deal with banking industry problems and 11 percent who point specifically to the Countrywide mortgage deal.
Needless to say, these aren't easy things to overcome.
