Lamont winning voters — but Lieberman has lead

HARTFORD, Conn. — Ned Lamont, whose anti-war campaign rattled the political landscape with a victory over Sen. Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary, is gaining voter support — but Lieberman still leads the race by double digits, a poll released Thursday shows.

The latest numbers also reveal some serious challenges that Lamont faces in trying to win over the unaffiliated voters he'll likely need to win the election in November.

Quinnipiac University has regularly surveyed registered voters across the state about the Senate race, and it has found over the past three months that Lieberman's support has changed little while Lamont's support has jumped:

• In early June, Lieberman was at 56 percent, Lamont at 18 percent and Republican Alan Schlesinger trailed far behind at 8 percent.

• By mid-July, Lieberman was at 51 percent, Lamont at 27 percent and Schlesinger at 9 percent.

• Now, the latest poll shows Lieberman at 49 percent, Lamont at 38 percent, Schlesinger at 4 percent.

But poll director Douglas Schwartz stresses those numbers only scratch the surface of how voters really feel about this race.

One potentially troublesome indicator for Lamont lies in voters' opinions of the candidates: Only 23 percent in the new survey had a favorable opinion of Lamont, while 28 percent had an unfavorable opinion and the rest were mixed. Meanwhile, 43 percent viewed Lieberman favorably and 28 percent viewed him unfavorably, with the rest mixed.

"Lamont needs to be concerned because he has actually negative favorability right now statewide," said Quinnipiac Poll Director Douglas Schwartz. "He's popular among Democrats, but he's not doing well among Republicans and independents."

"There is still time for Lamont to make this up," he said. "Lamont has to figure out a way to peel some of those soft supporters away from Lieberman."

Lieberman, a centrist, has been dogged by activists in his own party for his support of the war in Iraq and a perceived closeness to President Bush.

After he lost the Aug. 8 primary to Lamont by 10,000 votes, national Democratic leaders shifted their support to Lamont. But Lieberman still filed paperwork to run as an independent in the general election, saying all the state's voters should decide.