HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) - Sen. Joe Lieberman, under fire from activists in his own party, has lost ground to his challenger and is in a statistical dead heat for the Democratic nomination, a new poll released Thursday shows. Businessman Ned Lamont led Lieberman, 51 percent to 47 percent, among likely Democratic voters in the latest Quinnipiac University poll. The difference was within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, but Lieberman's numbers were down from a Quinnipiac poll in June.
Last month, Lieberman had led, 55 percent to 40 percent.
The poll's results weren't all bad for the three-term senator: When non-Democrats were included, the survey of registered Connecticut voters showed him leading in a three-way race, with 51 percent favoring Lieberman, 27 percent for Lamont and 9 percent for Republican Alan Schlesinger.
Lieberman filed papers last week that will allow him to petition his way onto the November ballot if he loses in the Aug. 8 Democratic primary.
The telephone survey of 2,502 registered voters, 653 of them likely Democratic voters, was conducted July 13-18. The margin of error for the overall survey was plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Lamont, a multimillionaire and founder of a cable television company that has wired college campuses, has gained national attention in his challenge to Lieberman. Liberal blogs have built Lamont up while taking shots at Lieberman for his support of the Iraq war and other moves perceived to support for congressional Republicans and Bush.
"We think the voters of Connecticut are continuing to realize that Ned represents the kind of change they want in Washington," said Lamont campaign spokeswoman Liz Dupont-Diehl. "It's clear that Joe Lieberman is just interested in hanging on to power."
Lieberman campaign spokeswoman Marion Steinfels said the poll simply shows that the race is "competitive."
"We've been treating it that way, and we continue to work hard to make sure Joe Lieberman wins on Aug. 8," she said. The campaign announced Thursday that former President Clinton would help campaign for Lieberman.
Lieberman was the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee in 2000 and ran for the presidential nomination in 2004.
