PPP Finds Murphy Leading McMahon in General Election Match-up

A new survey by Public Policy Polling released Tuesday, just two weeks before the Aug. 14 primary, finds U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon topping Republican rival Christopher Shays by 48 percentage points.

But McMahon trails Congressman Chris Murphy, her likely general election opponent, by eight percentage points, according to the poll.

The poll documents a potential problem for McMahon, the former CEO of WWE who lost the 2010 U.S. Senate race to Democrat Richard Blumenthal: Her unfavorable rating of 48 percent tops her favorable rating of 42 percent.

To the Shays campaign, that’s the silver lining in an otherwise dismal poll. “Nearly half of the people polled don’t like her [and] wouldn’t vote for her, even after she spent $10 million, plus the $50 [in the 2010 race,]” said Amanda Bergen, Shays spokeswoman. “That’s remarkable.”

On the Democratic side, the survey shows Murphy beating fellow Democrat Susan Bysiewicz by 17 percentage points. Murphy and Bysiewicz will face one another in the Democratic primary, which will also be held on Aug. 14. 

The automated poll of 771 likely Connecticut voters was conducted from July 26 to 29. The overall margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, although the sample of 400 likely voters for the Democratic and Republican primaries has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.