Poll: Duffy leads Lassa by 9 points

WASHINGTON — A new independent poll shows former prosecutor Sean Duffy with nearly a double-digit lead in his campaign to return Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District seat to the Republican column for the first time in more than 40 years.
Still, with 18 percent of voters undecided, there’s plenty of room for state Sen. Julie Lassa to close the gap. But the Stevens Point Democrat has just three weeks in which to catch up.
The results released Tuesday by The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper, has Duffy at 44 percent and Lassa at 35 percent. The survey of 400 likely voters was conducted from Oct. 2 to 7 and has a 4.9 percent margin of error.
The 7th District, represented by retiring House member Dave Obey, D-Wausau, is one of 10 congressional districts nationwide being monitored by The Hill leading up to the midterm elections. All have open-seat races, and Republican candidates are leading in all but two.
Both Duffy’s and Lassa’s camps provided their own interpretations of the poll results.
“This poll confirms what we’re seeing internally and hearing along the campaign trail,” said Duffy spokeswoman Wendy Riemann. “Sean’s message of bringing jobs back to Wisconsin and restoring fiscal discipline in Washington is gaining great momentum, while voters have been turned off by Sen. Lassa’s negative ads.”
Lassa spokeswoman Haley Morris scoffed at the numbers.
“As Wisconsin voters grow more and more concerned about Sean Duffy’s failed record as Ashland County district attorney, it remains to be seen whether they will give a promotion to someone who let violent criminals off the hook and couldn’t be bothered to show for work on the taxpayers’ dime.”
Jess McIntosh, a spokeswoman for Emily’s List, a progressive women’s group that has endorsed Lassa, said the race is much tighter than The Hill’s poll indicates.
But Charles Franklin, a political expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Lassa has run a lackluster campaign that has failed to ignite the party’s base in her district

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