Amo Leads Leonard in Salve Regina University/Pell Center Survey of First Congressional District Race

NEWPORT RI—The Pell Center at Salve Regina University conducted a state-wide survey to better understand Rhode Islanders’ views on important and timely political issues facing both the state and the nation. The results shed light on the upcoming special election in the first congressional district.

The survey asked residents of congressional district 1 whether they plan to vote for Gabe Amo, the Democratic candidate, or Gerry Leonard, the Republican candidate.

Overall, Amo has an 11 percentage point lead over Leonard. Support for the two candidates is starkly divided along partisan lines but 38% of Independents responded that they were unsure who they will vote for in the election on November 7.

The survey was fielded by Embold Research via the web for the Pell Center between October 12-17, 2023. It gathered responses from 386 registered voters in Rhode Island’s first congressional district for a margin of error of 4%.”

Amo is ahead among all age groups except 50 to 64 year olds, 38% of whom support him compared to 40% who plan to vote for Leonard. That age group is the most likely to be unsure of who they’ll vote for, at 19%. The largest gap in support is among young people (18 to 34 year olds), 50% support Amo and only 27% support Leonard.

Amo has more support than Leonard across white, Hispanic, Black, and Asian American and Pacific Islander voters.

In November, the Pell Center will publish a more detailed report on the survey, which also asked respondents to share their thoughts on a range of topics related to political polarization. The analysis will compare Rhode Islanders’ opinions to national data on the health of U.S. democracy, the contributors to political polarization, and the impact of misinformation.

For demographic information, download the report here.