Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman (D) has angered the left wing of his own party with his position on the war in Iraq. However, Connecticut voters are evenly divided on the question--39% agree with Lieberman's position on Iraq while 40% disagree.

Other survey data suggests that this issue is not a serious obstacle to Lieberman's plans for another six-year term in the U.S. Senate. That's true even if Lieberman were to run as an Independent candidate.

If Lieberman runs as a Democrat and is challenged by former Governor Lowell Weicker running as an independent, Lieberman leads by 21 percentage points--46% to 25%. That's essentially unchanged from our January election poll in Connecticut.

Businessman Ned Lamont is considering a challenge to Lieberman for the Democratic Party nomination. However, if Lamont were to run as a Democrat and Lieberman as an Independent, the incumbent Senator still shows a 20-point advantage and leads Lamont 45% to 24%.

In this match-up, with Lieberman running as an Independent, he leads Lamont by 11 percentage points among voting Democrats. He also wins a solid plurality of Republican and unaffiliated voters against both Lamont and a generic Republican candidate.

Given the chatter about Lieberman, we asked Connecticut voters whether the incumbent should run for re-election as a Democrat, an Independent, or a Republican. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of the state's voters said he should run as a Democrat, 26% as an Independent, and 17% as a Republican.

The most interesting piece of data on this point is that a plurality of Democrats want Lieberman to run as a Democrat; a plurality of Republicans want him to run as a Republican; and, a plurality of those not affiliated with either major party want him to run as an Independent.

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