There is an interesting story in the Boston Globe today on a UMass Lowell poll conducted showing that Reilly has weaked a good deal among democratic voters and Patrick is much stronger with both candidates in a dead heat with the Republican Kerry Healey.

Poll finds Patrick and Reilly running even among Democrats

Political newcomer Deval Patrick was running even with Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly among Democratic primary voters in a recent poll, a sign that Reilly's political missteps have cost him in the race for the party's gubernatorial nomination.

The survey of 400 likely primary voters, conducted over the past week by the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, indicated that 40 percent of Democrats supported Reilly and 40 percent backed Patrick, with 20 percent undecided. The finding is in sharp contrast to Reilly's strong lead in a similar poll taken last September when he led Patrick by a 49 percent to 18 percent margin. The poll did not include a potential three-way race with wealthy businessman Chris Gabrieli, who is also mulling a run for governor.

Reilly's political problems also showed up in a trial heat against Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, the early favorite to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination. In a sample of 550 registered voters, Reilly and Healey were in a statistical dead heat, with him getting 43 percent to her 42 percent. That is a marked change from the strong lead he held over Healey in a similar matchup in a September UMass poll when he was 25 percentage points ahead of her. She officially announced her candidacy last week, as the polling began.

In another general election match-up, Healey and Patrick were in a statistical dead heat, with Patrick receiving 40 percent and Healey getting 38 percent.

But the poll indicated that Healey's candidacy would be hurt if businessman Christy Mihos, who has been courting Republicans to challenge her in the Sept. 19 primary, decides to run as an independent in the general election. In a three-way race, the poll found that 36 percent of those surveyed backed Reilly, 30 percent supported Healey, and 17 percent favored Mihos. If Patrick were the Democratic nominee, the poll found him receiving 34 percent, Healey 34 percent, and Mihos 12 percent.

One piece of good news for the attorney general was that the voters' views of him have stayed steady. Some 53 percent of those polled viewed him favorably while 29 percent gave him an unfavorable rating. In September, 56 percent rated him favorably and 22 percent unfavorably.