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Miklave: Internal poll shows reform message has support

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NORWALK, Conn. – While other Norwalk mayoral candidates are playing it close to the vest when it comes to their internal polling, Matt Miklave is trumpeting his campaign’s results as evidence that he just might win Tuesday’s primary.

According to a Wednesday afternoon press release, an internal voter ID poll conducted by Miklave’s campaign shows the Common Councilman with a four-point lead over former Norwalk Police Chief Harry Rilling with a week to go before the Sept. 10 primary. The poll also shows scant support for District D Democratic Party Chairman Vinny Mangiacopra and former Town Clerk Andy Garfunkel.

According to the release, the survey results show Miklave with 16 percent, Rilling with 12 percent and Mangiacopra and Garfunkel with 4 percent each and 38 percent undecided. Another 26 percent refused to answer.

With more than 60 percent of respondents not choosing sides, the race appears to be wide open, Miklave said.

About 300 people responded to the poll, according to Miklave campaign aide Marissa Mayer.

The telemarketing survey was conducted “over the past week or so targeting a random sample of primary voting Democrats in Norwalk,” Mayer said. “If the voter did not have a history of voting in primary elections in Norwalk, they were eliminated from our call sample. Roughly 300 voters responded.”

The poll came on the heels of a two-week direct-mail ad blitz by the campaign highlighting Miklave’s intent to reform Norwalk’s budget process and his intention to run a slate of “New Direction” Democrats against the existing party leadership, the release said.

“I think voters are tired of the same insiders dictating who runs City Hall and who runs the Norwalk Democratic Party,” Miklave said according to the release. “Yesterday’s staged joint endorsement of the Rilling Campaign by party insiders is exactly what I’m talking about. Rather than let the voters make a choice and rally around the will of the people they claim to serve, insiders try to make back-room deals. If that’s what Norwalk voters want, they can vote for Harry Rilling or Vinny Mangiacopra.”

 

Comments

17 responses to “Miklave: Internal poll shows reform message has support”

  1. LWitherspoon

    It’s really funny to hear Miklave calling others “insiders” when he himself has been on the Common Council for eight years. Pot, meet kettle.
    .
    Miklave was happy to be an insider and do the DTC’s bidding on Common Council as long as it served his political ambitions. Then the DTC roundly rejected his candidacy and all of a sudden he has refashioned himself into an outsider. How dumb does he think we are?
    .
    How much do you want to bet that the Miklave supporters identified by this “poll” are largely special interest groups he has spent eight years pandering to on Council? Did the pollsters call registered Norwalk Democrats or was it the membership roster of the Norwalk Teachers Union?

  2. Tim T

    This is what I have been saying all along. When it comes to the voters Rilling doesn’t stand a chance. The people of Norwalk will not forget about the disaster he was as police consultant.

  3. NorwalkLifer

    This is a joke right?

  4. D(ysfunctional)TC

    300 people? Please. More like me, myself, and Irene. LOL.

  5. Asa H.M.

    @LWitherspoon…I believe the press release reads a ‘random sample’. Not that you would read closely to see that they did not call any ‘special interest groups’.

    Start smelling the roses!

  6. D(ysfunctional)TC

    @Asa H.M. Too funny. Like the pollsters here even understand what a random sample is. That concept is far beyond the grasp of someone who doesn’t even understand what specific details of a budget involve.

  7. KSully

    They’re “playing it close to the vest” because their polling shows the same thing as Miklave’s. Matt Miklave = Reform. Reform at City Hall & Reform at the top of the Norwalk Democratic Party. Is anyone really surprised that Matt’s reform message is resonating?

  8. NorwalkLifer

    LOL! The reason 68% of people said undecided or refused to answer is because they didn’t want to tell the Miklave campaign they weren’t voting for him. This isn’t a poll…this is a losing campaign’s crappy phone bank.

  9. LWitherspoon

    I just received the text of the poll questions and I think the Miklave campaign has some ‘splainin to do.
    .
    “Hello, this is Tony Ditrio. Would you vote for:
    a. Harry Rilling, who locked up criminals his entire career, but has since taken to excusing DTC leaders who brawl at City Hall.
    b. Vinny Mangiacopra, who speaks with different accents for different audiences
    c. Andy Garfunkel, whose stealth campaign is so stealthy it doesn’t exist
    d. Matt Miklave, who will lower your taxes, raise your salary, raise your kid’s teacher’s salary, mow your lawn, take out your garbage, wash your dishes, AND end the practice of politicians making empty and contradictory promises.”
    .
    Considering the slight bias in the poll questions it’s surprising that Miklave only polled at 16%. Perhaps some tuning of the message is in order?

  10. RU4REEL

    Has to be a joke. He really is focused on changing the leadership of the Dems, hasn’t he been one of them?
    If he becomes mayor will that be a priority?
    If you hold people accountable for their actions and stay transparent in ALL instances the problem would solve itself.

  11. Norwalk Dinosaur

    Now that is a push poll…

  12. Asa H.M.

    @NorwalkLifer…I bet they bought the same lists from CTVAN that you did.

  13. NorwalkLifer

    What is CVAN?

  14. Don’t Panic

    @NorwalkLifer,
    VAN is an enhanced voter file developed by the Democratic party. CT is the Connecticut VAN.
    .
    @witherspoon. Your info seems to be based upon some assumptions about the DTC. Nobody “roundly rejected” Miklave’s candidacy. The DTC does not ask its elected officials to “do its bidding”. I suggest actual research of Mr. Miklave’s public statements over the last ten years (not what others think he said, but the actual quotes). You will find someone who has consistently been asking for reform of the budget process here in Norwalk so that taxpayers would not have to pay more money for less.
    .
    Campaign rhetoric aside, this is exactly the kind of experience and approach you want your next Mayor to apply. This is what real change and real leadership look like. No wonder the status quo folks are squirming…

  15. Piberman

    If Attorney Miklave really wanted to get some attention about holding the line on taxes he’d promise to “review and replace some Dept heads”. Every Mayor elect or the past 30 years has promised change” but kept the same Dept Heads. That’s why Norwalk has the highest paid employees of any city in CT. Without a commitment to review and change Dept heads there’s no credibility to a no tax pledge. Everyone knows that in politics as in business those that get you in trouble are not the ones to get you out. So far the real winners next Nov. look like our City employees with higher salaries guaranteed. After all this is Norwalk !

  16. NorwalkVoter

    Problem Matt… no one knows who you are and when they meet you they don’t want to hear your lectures. Maybe a pretty good mayor but not a good candidate. All your negative rhetoric is a turn off. Dems have known this a long time. You are wasting your good ideas when you back them up with constant bashing of your fellow Dems.

  17. SJ

    Norwalk Voter,

    You must be voting for Rilling? Andy is looking better every day.

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