There have been a few references in the blogs today about this WCAX poll, which shows that an overwhelming majority of those polled would vote to re-elect Governor Jim Douglas over possible Democratic challenger Peter Galbraith and Progressive Anthony Pollina. According to WCAX…
53 percent say they support Douglas– 22 percent would vote for Democrat Peter Galbraith– and 15 percent for Progressive Anthony Pollina. 10 percent are still unsure.
“This is a strong position for an incumbent Governor to be in,” says Middlebury College Political Scientist Eric Davis.
Davis says part of Douglas’ success is that some Democrats vote for him.
“Governor Douglas is the beneficiary of a good deal of ticket splitting– voters who are voting for Democratic candidates for other offices are voting for Douglas for Governor,” explains Davis.
What’s interesting Davis says, is that Democrat Peter Galbraith leads Progressive Anthony Pollina by 7 percentage points– even though Galbraith is not officially in the race yet.
The gubernatorial election isn’t until November, but let’s conduct a non-scientific Exit Voices poll. Who would win your vote for Governor if the election were held today?
It’s a slight mystery to me why Galbraith was even included in this survey, since he’s not even running. WCAX is prone to be very pro-GOP…maybe they were just trying to whip up the Left in VT over who could better beat Jimmy D. (mission accomplished BTW too).
“If the election were held today”, I’d be very surprised, and I’d vote for Pollina, since he’s the only anti-Jimmy D. candidate that has the guts to be in the race.
Left by Mister Guy on February 29th, 2008