Unaffiliated candidate for governor Joe Visconti says all you have to do is look at the numbers in the recent Quinnipiac Poll to see why he’ll be more than a doormat during the November election.
“They don’t want to go to Malloy and they don’t want to go to Foley,” Visconti said during an exclusive interview with George Colli on NBC Connecticut’s "Decision 2014."
“Sixty-two percent of [Foley’s] support says they just don’t like Malloy and they don’t really like Foley, so they’re voting against Malloy," Visconti explained. "We’re looking to take that vote from Tom.”
Visconti has billed himself as an alternative conservative candidate, even going so far as to call himself a “Red State Republican,” referring to how his views more closely identify with those of Southern Republicans than those of the Northeast variety.
Visconti, according to the Q-Poll, takes voters who would typically vote for either Republican Tom Foley or Democrat Dan Malloy.
Doug Schwartz, of Quinnipiac University, says that even though Visconti is pulling a respectable seven percent of likely voters in early to mid-September, that’s a figure that’s likely to change.
“One thing also to keep in mind, historically, third party candidates tend to see their vote go down the closer you get to election day. We’ll have to see. It doesn’t mean it’s going to happen in this case,” said Schwartz.
Politics
Visconti cares most about issues that many political experts have labeled as “Tea Party.”
For example, Visconti wants to revisit Connecticut’s use of the Common Core State Standards, the national set of benchmarks was later linked to Department of Education “Race to the Top” funds that were eventually controversial for the way states were awarded them.”
“Education has to be local,” Visconti said, of the Common Core. “There are some good things in anything. So you can pick out a lot of things in Common Core that could look good. Most of it’s been rejected. The kids stress and anxiety number one. The way they dropped this on the public is the first thing we hear from parents and kids.”
Visconti has the potential to be influential on the November ballot, but the Q-Poll also showed that the margin between heavy hitters Malloy and Foley remains at six points with or without Visconti on the ballot.
