Governor Shumlin and President Obama enjoy broad support in Vermont against likely opponents six months before the general election in November. A new poll commissioned by Vermont Business Magazine, WCAX-TV and WDEV radio in Waterbury, and executed by the Castleton Polling Institute at Castleton College, shows likely voters favored Democrat Peter Shumlin over Republican Randy Brock 60.3 percent to 26.9 percent and Democrat Barack Obama by nearly as commanding a margin over likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney, 59.3 percent to 27.5 percent.
The polling, whose results will run all week on WCAX-TV, WDEV Radio and on vermontbiz.com, goes on to show that Governor Shumlin's approval rating is 65.1 percent, a more than 40-point gap over his disapproval rating. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott, has a 56.5 percent approval rating against a disapproval rating of only 4 percent. Some 38.7 percent of voters were undecided about the lesser known former state senator.
In other news from the poll released today, Speaker of House Shap Smith garnered an approval rating of 50.9 percent, against a disapproval of 15.8 percent; his opposite number in the state Senate, President Pro Tem John Campbell received an approval rating of 32.6 percent versus a disapproval of 10.7 percent; and the Legislature as a whole had an approval rating of 57.5 percent, although only 11.2 percent felt strongly about it, while 31.5 percent disapproved.
The report is based on data from 607 interviews drawn from a random sample of registered voters in Vermont. The interviews were conducted by phone from May 7 until May 16.
Tomorrowâ s poll to run on vermontbiz.com, WDEV and WCAX will feature questions related to energy, Thursday's will be on the economy and business, and the poll will conclude Friday starting with a report on WCAX at 5 pm on health care, cell phone use while driving and death with dignity.
This survey was conducted for WCAX, WDEV and Vermont Business Magazine by the Castleton Polling Institute at Castleton College.A total of 607 likely voters were interviewed statewide by telephone between May 7th to May 16th.
Those interviewed were selected from a random sample of registered voters in Vermont.The margin for error, according to standards customarily used by statisticians, is no more than plus or minus 4 percentage points.
To view yesterday's results on the Attorney General's race between William Sorrell and TJ Donovan, CLICK HERE.
POLL RESULTS