The Connecticut WFP Takes Aim at Nancy Johnson (UPDATED)

UPDATE: Read an executive summary of the CT-WFP's poll here.

The Connecticut Working Families Party is taking aim at Republican Congresswoman Nancy Johnson, according to a story in today's Danbury News-Times.

"Working [F]amilies will be mounting a significant independent campaign to persuade swing voters to support Chris Murphy," said Jon Green, director of the Connecticut Working Families Party. "We have begun to raise resources that will enable us to contact voters directly."

The Danbury News-Times story also reports on a poll commissioned by the WFP that shows Democratic/WFP challenger Chris Murphy with a 38%-35% lead over Johnson.

Democrat Chris Murphy has a slight lead over U.S. Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-5th Dist., according to a poll commissioned by a liberal third party. However, almost one-third of voters are undecided about the race.

Here are some excerpts from a memo summarizing the poll results:

TO: Interested Parties

FROM: Mark Guma

RE: Survey of Voters in Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District

DATE: June 28, 2006

This memo summarizes key findings from a telephone survey of 600 likely voters in Connecticut’s 5th congressional district. The survey was conducted by Central Marketing from June 11 to June 13. More details on the methodology are provided at the end of this memo.

In the 5th district, incumbent Nancy Johnson, a Republican is being challenged by Chris Murphy, a Democrat who has also been endorsed by the Working Families Party (WFP). The survey results demonstrate that the WFP can play a critical role in persuading swing voters, unaffiliated voters, and Republicans to vote for Murphy.

The key findings are:

• The race is extremely competitive (with Murphy holding a three-point lead in the survey’s initial horserace question)
• Unaffiliated and swing voters are the key to winning (nearly one-third of independent voters are undecided)
• WFP messages are effective in convincing swing and Republican voters to vote for Murphy

The Connecticut WFP effort parallels the New York WFP's "Take Back Congress" campaign, which is targeting a small number of congressional races with a substantial independent expenditure directed at independent voters and Republicans.

Technorati tags: Working Families Party | 2006 Election | Take Back the House