Not yet, but it's good news for those who want change.
Gov. Deval Patrick’s standing with voters is so weak that this year’s race for governor is shaping up as a contest between his two rivals, a new Suffolk University-7News poll shows.“This race is really between Charlie Baker and Tim Cahill,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, which conducted the poll. “Whoever emerges between the Baker-Cahill race is likely to be the winner.”
As for Patrick, Paleologos said, “On paper, he leads.”
The governor’s grip on a precarious lead continues, with the incumbent Democrat taking 33 percent of the vote compared to Republican Baker’s 25 percent and Treasurer Timothy Cahill, running as an independent, close behind with 23 percent.
Green-Rainbow Party candidate Jill Stein trails with a distant 3 percent, and 16 percent are undecided, according to the survey of 500 likely voters.
The survey included interviews with 500 registered voters between Sunday and Wednesday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent.
Baker, former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, wins among unenrolled voters, the state’s largest voting bloc. He has risen a whopping 10 points since November, a stunning surge considering he hasn’t run any television campaign commercials and there have been no televised debates to raise his profile.
UPDATE: The full Suffolk University poll. Plus, more from Howie Carr and Jim Geraghty.
SECOND UPDATE: More from the Globe and NECN.
THIRD UPDATE: More from the Globe.