Primary: 10-percent decide for all

Cromwell, Conn. (WTNH) - There are 44-primary races taking shape across the state, highlighted by the race for Governor in both major political parties and the Republican battle for the U.S. Senate nomination.

There are over 3.5 million people in Connecticut but only about 2 million are registered voters, and only about half of them are eligible to vote in the Primary because only about 1 million people are affiliated with one of the major political parties.

About 750,000 are Democrats. So if only 20 to 25 percent turnout, the close contest between Ned Lamont and Dan Malloy will be decided by about 200,000 people.

Only about 400,000 registered voters are Republicans, which means the big contest for the gubernatorial nomination between Tom Foley, Mike Fedele and Oz Griebel, and the race for the Senate nomination between Linda McMahon, Rob Simmons and Peter Schiff, will be decided by about 100,000 people.

People who do participate in the Primary end up being clobbered and pestered at home.

Waite, “I'm glad the primary is over. My mother is 88 years old, and we're getting calls every night, usually the automated calls, mostly from the Lamont campaign."

"Nasty, name calling, smearing, it's a normal turn off,” said Rebecca Johnson. “I wish there was more focus on the issues."

"I have been inundated with too much literature,” commented Beverly Towns. “I don't like the negative aspect of it.”

The only candidate who got good reviews for his automated phone calling Tuesday was Republican Peter Schiff.

"He called up and he said what he was going to do for us,” explained Mariann Chambole. “I had so many others, recordings, putting down the opponent and there was too much of that going on."

But Peter Schiff is also the guy who ran the TV commercial showing Linda McMahon repeatedly kicking a guy in the groin.

When you stop to look at the numbers of people that actually participate in primaries, it really boils down to less than 10 percent of the population deciding who everyone gets to vote for in November.

News 8, WTNH.com and ConnPolitics.TV will have the results as they come in tonight.