Poll: Lieberman challenger building support

HARTFORD, Conn. --A Greenwich businessman has gained ground in his primary challenge to U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., but the three-term senator still has the lead, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.

Among registered Democrats, 57 percent said they would vote for Lieberman, compared with 32 percent for challenger Ned Lamont, who has criticized his opponent for supporting the Iraq war. A month ago, Lieberman drew 65 percent to Lamont's 19 percent.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Lieberman said he has always believed the race between him and Lamont would tighten.

"My opponent is running against George Bush and the war in Iraq, which doesn't take much courage in a Democratic primary," he said. "I've been an opponent of most everything George Bush has done, but I'm not going to play partisan games with our national security."

Lamont fared better among likely voters in the Aug. 8 Democratic primary, with 40 percent saying they would vote for him and 55 percent picking Lieberman.

"It's an impressive gain for Ned Lamont, but it is still an uphill struggle for him," said Douglas Schwartz, poll director. He said Lamont's strong showing at the state Democratic nominating convention last month generated positive publicity and likely helped his poll numbers.

Lamont captured 33 percent of the delegates at the convention.

The poll found that if Lieberman runs as an independent, a move he hasn't ruled out, he would win with 56 percent of the vote, compared with 18 percent for Lamont and 8 percent for Republican Alan Schlesinger.

Among likely primary voters, 78 percent said their vote for Lamont was more a vote against Lieberman.

"It's clearly an anti-Lieberman focus. This primary is about Joe Lieberman," Schwartz said.

But don't tell that to more than 200 people who turned out Thursday for a Lamont rally in New Haven sponsored by the liberal groups MoveOn.org and Democracy for America.

Vivien Blackford, a Democracy for America organizer, said she originally had a different type of candidate in mind but believes Lamont can win.

"I was thinking a red meat union guy from eastern Connecticut," she said.

Lamont said he has been propelled by his showing at the convention and some Democrats' dissatisfaction with Lieberman's support of Bush and the war.

"We have a senator who says, 'Look, I want to reach out and find common ground with the Republicans,'" Lamont said. "I think it's high time the Democrats stand up and start talking about the common good."

Schlesinger called the poll numbers "exciting" even though 87 percent of voters said they haven't heard enough about him to form an opinion.

"Without a lot of people knowing either Lamont or myself, Sen. Lieberman is already in a situation where it's a tight contest at the primary," he said.

In the governor's race, the poll shows Gov. M. Jodi Rell with a 75 percent approval rating and better than 2-to-1 leads over either of her Democratic challengers, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano and Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy.

In head-to-head matchups, Rell leads DeStefano 64 percent to 24 percent and Malloy 65 percent to 22 percent.

Among likely voters in the Aug. 8 Democratic primary, DeStefano leads Malloy 46 percent to 35 percent. Among all Democrats, DeStefano leads Malloy 37 percent to 28 percent.

Chris Cooney, Malloy's campaign manager, said he is confident Malloy, who narrowly won the Democratic nomination, will win the primary as voters learn more about his record of creating jobs, lowering crime and providing universal pre-kindergarten.

"And then Connecticut will have a clear choice in the fall: Dan Malloy, who has a strong record and vision for the future, and Jodi Rell, who has neither," Cooney said.

A spokesman for DeStefano called the poll "gratifying" and said it shows voters are motivated by DeStefano's ideas.

"Over the next few months, DeStefano will continue to relentlessly address the issues working families care about, and inch by inch this campaign about ideas will serve notice to Gov. Rell -- Connecticut is ready to be number one again," Derek Slap said.

The telephone poll of 2,114 Connecticut registered voters was conducted from May 31 - June 6 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 2 percentage points. The survey includes 751 registered Democrats with a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

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Associated Press Writer Matt Apuzzo in New Haven, Conn., contributed to this story.