New MA poll: Elizabeth Warren gaining ground in race vs. Scott Brown

[WI_DEM]

BOSTON — She may be an undeclared candidate, but potential Democratic U.S. Senate contender Elizabeth Warren appears to be gaining support among Massachusetts voters. A WBUR Poll (PDF) released Tuesday puts the Harvard law professor the closest of four Democrats to incumbent Republican Sen. Scott Brown.

When paired in a hypothetical contest, 44 percent of 500 likely voters said they’d vote for Brown, compared to 35 percent who said they would vote for Elizabeth Warren. In similar hypothetical match-ups, Brown topped City Year co-founder Alan Khazei (45 percent to 30 percent), activist Bob Massie (45 percent to 29 percent) and Newton Mayor Setti Warren (no relation to Elizabeth) (46 percent to 28 percent).


“ actually still is viewed favorably by a considerable number of voters, but Warren is, especially for someone who just appeared on the scene and hasn’t even formally begun her campaign yet, really making a strong showing at this point,” said Steve Koczela, president of the MassINC Polling Group, which conducted the survey.


- “Brown has all but locked up the vote among Republicans… Elizabeth Warren, on the other hand, has only 57% of registered Democrats behind her, with 22% for Brown and 18% undecided. Among unenrolled voters, Brown currently holds a 50-27% lead.”

- “Brown (40%) and Warren (39%) are essentially tied among female voters — similar to the three points by which Brown lost to Martha Coakley in 2010. Female voters were a major swing group between the 2010 and 2012 election cycles, so the 17% of women who remain undecided are likely to be aggressively courted by both sides. In the 2010 gubernatorial election, Charlie Baker lost female voters by a 24-point margin to Deval Patrick…”

- “Over half (58%) in the western and central region of the state said they had never heard of Elizabeth Warren, compared to 35% in the Boston area who said the same.”

http://www.wbur.org/2011/09/06/senate-poll-massachusetts

[gateley]

1. K&R I'm going to say it again and keep saying it because I truly

believe -- the more people hear her, the more they'll support her. She just makes SO much sense and I think it will cross party lines. My boss, who's "fiscally conservative but socially liberal" (her words, not mine) really likes Warren a lot! Hope she's an indicator of others in that group.

[lob1]

2. K&R.

[Larkspur]

3. I think Warren will improve her poll standing once she starts campaigning

She is a very good public speaker and should win women over easily.
The Mass Democratic Party worked hard and developed new strategies in 2010 to go against the anti-incumbant tide that year and to redeem itself from Brown's victory, so I think she'll win over more Democrats in the general election too.

[WI_DEM]

4. She can gain a lot of ground with Dems and unaffiliated voters since large margins are

undecided.

[Lost-in-FL]

5. Good news for a change!!

Yikes!