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Emerson Poll: Capuano leads Pressley in Democratic showdown

BOSTON — Incumbent Representative Michael Capuano leads Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley 38 percent to 29 percent in a new poll conducted by Emerson College.

The Democrats are squaring off in the primary election for Capuano’s seat representing Massachusetts’ seventh congressional district.

According to Emerson, both candidates are popular with Democratic party voters as Capuano has a 61 percent favorable rating and a 16 percent unfavorable; Pressley has a 46 percent favorable and a 21 percent unfavorable.

Pressley leads among Hispanic and black voters, indicating identity politics may play a role in her campaign, the poll’s director Assistant Professor Spencer Kimball noted.

However, Capuano leads among women voters and ‘likely voters.’

The poll's methodology

The Massachusetts US Congressional 7th District Emerson College epoll was conducted July 19-21, 2018 under the Supervision of Assistant Professor Spencer Kimball. The sample consisted of registered voters, n=400, with a Credibility Interval (CI) similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE) of +/- 5.2 percentage points. The data was weighted by ethnicity, age, and gender. It is important to remember that subsets carry with them higher margins of error, as the sample size is reduced. Data was collected using both an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system of landlines and an online panel provided by Survey Monkey and Opinion Research.