Poll: close race in 5th
A poll just released by WBZ-TV shows that the race in the Fifth Congressional District is surprisingly close, with Democrat Niki Tsongas up only 10 percent over Republican Jim Ogonowski.
Republicans have been trumpeting the Oct. 16 election as their first chance in years to gain back a congressional seat, but this is the first sign that they are within range and could trigger attention from the national parties.
Fifty-one percent of voters said they would vote for Tsongas if the election were held today, compared with 41 percent for Ogonowski. Independent Kurt Hayes and Constitution Party Keven Thompson each got 2 percent, and Independent Patrick Murphy got 1 percent. Four percent said they were undecided.
The poll, which was conducted by SurveyUSA, comes from a survey of 411 likely voters, interviewed between Sept. 7-9. It has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.
Other nuggets from the poll:
- Tsongas leads by 32 points among women. Ogonowski leads by 13 points among men.
- Tsongas leads by 23 points among the youngest voters. Ogonowski leads by 2 points among the oldest voters.
- Tsongas leads 9:2 among Democrats, who make-up 42 percent of likely voters.
- Ogonowski leads 8:1 among Republicans, who make-up 18 percent of likely voters.
- Just 15% of likely voters in the district approve of the job Congress is doing. Among those voters, Tsongas leads by 24 points. But among the 71 percent of likely voters who do not approve of the job Congress is doing, the candidates tie.
