After months of campaigning, candidates will find out their fates as Massachusetts voters cast their ballots Tuesday.
An Oct. 29 poll shows the race for governor &- between incumbent Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, Republican Charlie Baker, independent Tim Cahill and Green-Rainbow candidate Jill Stein &- is closer now than it has been at any point in the election.
Patrick has 46 percent support, Baker has 44 percent support, Cahill has 6 percent, 3 percent plan to vote for another candidate and 1 percent are still unsure, a Rasmussen Reports poll released Oct. 29 showed.
In a poll earlier this month, Rasmussen reported that Patrick led with 47 percent while Baker had 42 percent &- giving Baker a 2 percent increase and Patrick a 1 percent decrease.
Rasmussen now considers the race for governor a toss-up. The recent poll has a 4 percent margin of error with a 95 percent level of confidence.
Dan Kibbe, a spokesman for Cahill’s campaign, said that though the polls showed the independent far behind Patrick and Baker, the campaign is still maintaining their optimism.
“The mood is positive. We know what the polls say, but everywhere that Tim goes he gets an extremely strong reaction,” Kibbe said. “People will just walk right up to him and shake his hand. . .we don’t necessarily believe the polls.”
Kibbe said that Cahill’s campaign understood that because they were running on an independent ticket, they would have more limitations than the candidates running under the two major parties.
“I wouldn’t say there were things we didn’t do well, but from the start there were things we knew we couldn’t do because we weren’t with a major party. We knew we needed to take it more directly to the people,” Kibbe said. “I think we’ve done very well at going out and making that personal connection with people at the grassroots level.”
Kibbe also said that in the weeks since his running mate Paul Loscocco dropped out of the race, Cahill’s wife Tina has played a bigger role in the campaign.
“We are going to go right until the end,” Kibbe said.
In the state auditor election, Democrat Suzanne Bump, Republican Mary Connaughton and Green-Rainbow candidate Nathanael Fortune are battling it out to determine who will be responsible for overseeing state agencies to ensure that they are running effectively economically.
The state auditor also has the responsibility of determining whether taxpayers’ money is being spent appropriately, as well as recommending ways to make programs more efficient.
In an Oct. 23 poll released by The Boston Globe, 32 percent of Massachusetts’s likely voters supported Connaughton, 33 percent supported Bump, 2 percent supported another candidate and 33 percent weren’t sure who they are voting for.
Both candidates increased their campaigning in the days and weeks building up to Tuesday’s election.
“Suzanne has been throughout the state of Massachusetts visiting voters, she’s been going to local diners, eateries, local festivals and going to Democratic rallies,” said Christopher Thompson, a spokesman for Bump’s campaign. “According to recent polls, we’re in an extremely close election and we’re going to do everything we can to maximize our chances.”
Thompson described the campaign as a learning experience for voters.
“The campaign has been very successful in making people excited for the auditor’s race. Not too many people are completely familiar with what the state auditor does so it’s been a great opportunity to show people how important the state auditor is,” he said.
Mike Flynn, a spokesman for Connaughton’s campaign, said that the Republican candidate has been busy on the campaign trail as well.
“She’s been shaking hands and working hard. Even today she had a full schedule and has been all over the state,” Flynn said. “You can’t take anything for granted and you have to work hard for it and hope that you worked hard enough to get your message to resonate with voters. We find when we go town to town that her message is resonating with voters.”
The state treasurer election is similarly neck and neck, according to an Oct. 23 Globe poll.
Democratic candidate Steve Grossman is at 39 percent support from Massachusetts likely voters and Republican candidate Karyn Polito drew 37 percent support, according to the poll.
One percent supported another candidate while 23 percent weren’t sure.
Both the auditor and treasurer polls have a 4.3 percent sampling error.
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