Poll: Democrats Hold Lead in Governor’s Race

Seven months out from the gubernatorial election, a recent poll finds Democrats continue to have an early lead in the race for the state’s highest office.

Western New England University Polling Institute conducted a telephone survey of 424 registered voters from March 31 through April 7. Here is what they found:

State Attorney General Martha Coakley, a Demoscrat, leads Republican Charlie Baker by a 54 percent to 25 percent margin. The 29 point gap between the two has grown since an Oct. 1-7, 203 Polling Institute survey where Coakley led Bakery by 20 points (54 percent to 34 percent).

State Treasurer Steve Grossman, also a Democrat, leads Baker by nine points in a 38 percent to 29 percent margin. Grossman’s has narrowed his advantage over Baker slightly since the October 2013 survey when Grossman led Baker by 13 points (43 percent to 30 percent).

The Western New England Polling Institute survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus five percentage points.

Coakley and Grossman are in a field of five candidates vying for the party’s nomination in mid-June. Candidates will need to receive support from at least 15 percent of the delegates at the convention to participate in the Sept. 9 primary.

Baker won the Republican party’s nomination in March. Competing Republican candidate Mark Fisher of Shrewsbury is challenging those results.

The other three candidates in the field of Democrats is making little progress in building name recognition among voters, the survey showed.

In the latest survey, approximately three quarters of voters polled said they had not heard of Joe Avellone, Don Berwick and Juliette Kayyem. All three had favorability ratings in the single digits in the latest survey, reflecting little change since the Oct. 2013 poll.