Hinckley & Riley Struggle in Latest Poll

Hinckley & Riley Struggle in Latest Poll

While Brendan Doherty finds himself in a tossup race with Congressman David Cicilline in the 1st Congressional District, the two other Rhode Island Republicans running for federal office still find themselves far behind the incumbents, according to a WPRI poll released this week.

The poll of 501 likely voters showed Senate candidate Barry Hinckley trailing first-term Senator Sheldon Whitehouse 55.7 percent to 30.1 with 11.2 percent still undecided. In the 2nd Congressional district, the poll of 250 likely voters had Republican Michael Riley down 52.6 percent to 29.1 percent against Congressman James Langevin.

The problem for both candidates appears to be name recognition. While only nine percent of voters had a negative view of Hinckley, more than two-thirds of those polled did not have an opinion on him at all despite the fact that he has been in the race for well over a year.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

Riley, who maintains that he is willing to invest over $1 million in the race, didn’t fare much better, with 62.7 percent of those polls saying they didn’t have an opinion on him.

“The poll shows that the voters are ready for change,” Riley said. “They just do not know me well enough yet to support me. I have five weeks to work on increasing my name ID. For every voter I meet or communicate with, there is an 80 percent chance they will vote for me because they know a vote for Riley will improve their own job and earnings prospects here in Rhode Island.”

Hinckley’s campaign manager Patrick Sweeney manager said he considers the WPRI poll flawed and suggested the campaign’s internal polls have the race “much closer.”

“Also keep in mind, we have only started advertising on television heavily this week,” Sweeney said. “We are confident once the voters of Rhode Island learn of Senator Whitehouse's record, they will realize they can't afford six more years of Sheldon Whitehouse. Since Senator Whitehouse has taken office, Rhode Island’s gas and unemployment numbers have doubled, on top of our national debt also doubling.”