Warmington campaign claims its poll shows neck-and-neck race with Craig
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Mar. 19—CONCORD — The campaign of Democratic candidate for governor and Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington of Concord said its own poll concluded that she's neck and neck with primary rival and former Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig when voters were told the "potential criticisms" of both candidates.
The survey from GBAO Strategies of Washington, D.C., begins by acknowledging that Craig led Warmington, 37% to 25%.
This was mainly because 47% of likely primary voters knew Craig while only 36% could identify Warmington, the poll said.
"But as soon as voters hear balanced positive arguments from both candidates, the race changes dramatically with Warmington opening up a 44%-to-38% lead," said a memo on the poll of 600 likely voters taken last Feb. 22-26.
After voters heard criticism of both candidates, Warmington's pollster said the race tightens to 41% for Warmington to 39% for Craig, within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4%.
When Warmington's poll "highlights Republicans' desire to run against Craig," then Warmington's lead in its poll grows to 48% to 34% over Craig, the memo added.
Supporters of Craig have criticized Warmington's past work as a lobbyist for Purdue Pharma, whose painkillers played a prominent role in the opioid epidemic, and the significant financial support Warmington got from the late founder of pain clinic whose staffer was sentenced to four years in federal prison for taking kickbacks from a fentanyl spray maker.
Warmington campaign manager Philip Stein said the poll confirmed Warmington was the stronger candidate.
"Joyce Craig knows that she can't win this race on her own record and, even if she spends the next several months attempting to smear Cinde, she will still lose," Stein said. "Cinde looks forward to sharing her positive vision for the state with more voters and leading Democrats to victory in November."
The memo doesn't provide in detail the "potential criticisms" of both candidates that Warmington's pollster shared with likely voters that changed the outlook of this race.{div}Campaign Manager Craig Brown said Joyce Craig was the "strongest candidate and the only viable candidate" to win back the corner office for Democrats in November.
"Warmington's campaign is confirming what every poll of this race has shown, that Joyce Craig has a double-digit lead in the Democratic primary. Our campaign is focused on winning the general election in November, where polling shows that Joyce is the only candidate with a clear path to victory against Kelly Ayotte," Brown said in a statement.
