Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has rallied some of his Republican base but still trails behind Democratic challenger Tom Wolf by a whopping 17 percentage points, said a new poll released Tuesday.
The Quinnipiac University poll showed Mr. Wolf way out in front of Mr. Corbett 55 percent to 38 percent, as the two candidates head into the final month of campaigning.
Mr. Corbet trailed Mr. Wolf, a businessman, by 24 percentage points in the same poll in September.
“With a slight shift in the numbers as a handful of Republicans come back, there is a pinprick of light at the end of the long, dark re-election tunnel, but time is not on Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett’s side,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll. “It’s a matter of simple math, and the ticking clock and both are working against Gov. Corbett.”
Mr. Corbett and as many as four other incumbent governors are endanger of losing this year, which would be the most governors tossed out of office since 1984.
In the new poll, Mr. Wolf leads 59 percent to 34 percent among women, 51 percent to 42 percent among men, 87 percent to 7 percent among Democrats and 49 percent to 40 percent among independent voters.
Republicans back Mr. Corbett 75 percent to 22 percent, one of the lowest rates of same-party support for an incumbent governor in any of the nine states surveyed by Quinnipiac University.
About 85 percent of Pennsylvania likely voters say their minds are made up about who they’ll back in November, while 13 percent said they might change their mind.
The poll found little difference among supporters for each candidate when it comes to being certain about their vote: 87 percent of Mr. Wolf’s supporters and 83 percent of Mr. Corbett’s backers say their mind is made up.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
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