Poll Tracker

The Daily Kos poll showed Dodd had won over a strong segment of Democratic voters, which is significant given that Democrats make up nearly twice as many registered voters as Republicans in Connecticut. Seventy-two percent of Democrats held a favorable view of Dodd, and 73 percent said they would vote for him over Simmons.

Dodd still has a ways to go with independents, according to the poll, trailing Simmons 32 percent to 55 percent among voters not affiliated with a party.

Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, has been hurt by allegations of cozy ties with the financial industry and the fact that he spent most of 2007 away from Connecticut while staging a long-shot bid for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. He has since doubled down on his legislative efforts, seeking to burnish a populist image with his efforts to rein in alleged abuses in the credit card and tobacco industries, while taking a point position on the Democrats' health care overhaul efforts in the Senate.

Dodd also was able to present himself in a positive light during the period following the Aug. 25 death of Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Dodd's longtime colleague and close friend. He played a high-profile role in memorials to Kennedy, even though Dodd had undergone surgery for prostate cancer just a few weeks earlier.

Dodd nonetheless still looks very vulnerable for a five-term senator who previously enjoyed strong job approval ratings and easy re-election campaigns. The DailyKos/Research 2000 poll showed Dodd maintaining leads in just single-digit percentages over the two other declared Republican candidates -- state Sen. Sam Caligiuri and Tom Foley, a businessman and former ambassador to Ireland -- neither of whom is nearly as well-known to voters statewide as is Dodd.

Dodd led more comfortably, by 47 percent to 35 percent, over Peter Schiff, an investor with libertarian policy views who is considering running for the GOP nomination.

The survey confirms that Simmons has the early lead in the race for the GOP nomination, with the support of 38 percent of likely Republican voters, compared to 7 percent for Caligiuri, 6 percent for Foley and 1 percent for Schiff.

But Simmons' lead can largely be chalked up to name recognition, since most respondents have an opinion of him, while at least 75 percent of voters don't know enough to form an opinion of Caligiuri, Foley and Schiff.

CQ Politics currently rates the Senate general election contest as Tossup.

To see how the 2010 Senate races are shaping up, check out the CQ Politics' election map.