A new poll commissioned by WCAX-TV shows Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott leading Democratic former transportation secretary Sue Minter 47 to 40 percent in Vermont’s gubernatorial race.
Conducted by Braun Research of Princeton, N.J., the live-caller poll surveyed 603 likely voters, using a mix of landlines and cell phones. Its margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent, meaning the race could be essentially tied — or Scott could have an even wider lead.
According to WCAX, 4 percent of respondents supported Liberty Union nominee and retired Red Sox pitcher Bill “Spaceman” Lee, while 2 percent planned to write in another candidate. Seven percent said they remained undecided.
That’s a significantly smaller percentage than Castleton Polling Institute found in a recent survey it conducted for Vermont Public Radio. In that poll, 14 percent said they were undecided. Thirty-nine percent told VPR they supported Scott, 38 percent Minter and 2 percent Lee. That poll’s margin of error was 3.9 percent.
VPR conducted its poll of 650 Vermonters — also using a mix of landlines and cell phones — from September 29 through October 14. WCAX conducted its survey from October 19 through October 22 — after the station’s televised debate last Tuesday.
It’s not necessarily safe to assume that the differing results in the two polls represent a shift in the race, because the surveys were conducted by different firms and may employ different methodology. WCAX did not provide a breakdown of how the candidates’ support varied by age, gender, region or party affiliation. It only said that Scott was viewed favorably by more Vermonters (68.6 percent) than Minter (53 percent).
WCAX plans to release more results from its poll later this week, the station said Monday evening.
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I am deeply dismayed by the sudden attempt by Planned Parenthood of Vermont to portray Phil Scott as someone who would attack a womans right to have an abortion. The announcer, Vicki Hart of Burlington, then attempts to vilify him by calling him just a typical Republican. This is politics of the lowest order.
For the record, we typical Republicans in the Vermont State Senate have voted to support the principles of Roe v. Wade in a resolution that has been offered at the commencement of each biennium. Phil Scott also voted for that resolution when he was a state senator. Sue Minter knows that. Sue, I know you cannot control the Planned Parenthood PAC, but allowing this ad to continue running without challenging it places an obstacle in front of any claim to be able to work across the aisle. I respectfully ask that you publicly disavow that ad.
Senator Benning, you seem to think being “”pro-choice” is about nothing more than saying you’re opposed to Roe v. Wade being overturned.
But, as we’ve seen around the country, even with Roe standing as law, anti-choice Republican state legislatures have done their very best to make that constitutional right meaningless by enacting a series of measures that limit that right in many ways, making abortion virtually inaccessible for many women in those states.
A politician, like Phil Scott, can/must claim to be “pro-choice” because they know a Republican can’t win in Vermont unless they are seen as socially moderate.
But real “pro-choice” politicians don’t support legislation designed to make it harder for some women to control their own bodies – be that teenage girls, women struggling with difficult late term issues, or poor women who can’t afford it.
Real “pro-choice” politicians don’t get recommended for office by anti-choice groups.
And real “pro-choice” politicians don’t endorse a Presidential candidate like Marco Rubio who opposes all abortion rights (including no exception for rape or incest), who were willing to close down the government over Planned Parenthood Funding, and who pledge to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn the very “Roe v. Wade” decision that he claims to support.
Planned Parenthood is doing a public service by alerting Vermont voters to the contradictions in Phil Scott’s “pro-choice” claim. The fact that Republicans are protesting and squealing about it just shows that they know how tenuous Scott’s claim to be “pro-choice” really is.