This year's race could be decided not by whom the voters like the best, but by whom they dislike the least, said Rose, chairman of the Department of Government and Politics at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.
"It just reflects how divided the electorate is," Rose said of the close race between the two men. The result this time around could be very similar to 2010, when Malloy won by a mere 6,000 votes, he said.
Malloy won in 2010 because the Democratic voters in the cities came out in large numbers, in part due to a late-in-the-campaign stop by President Barack Obama, Rose said. His campaign visit rallied Democratic voters, especially in Bridgeport, where Obama spoke, to cast their ballots for Malloy, he said.
Democrats are counting on the same scenario as Obama makes another campaign stop for Malloy in Bridgeport on Sunday.
"I think it will come down to the cities," Rose said about Malloy's chance of winning. "Foley has done pretty well doing as much as he can to mobilize his base."
But with Obama not as popular as he was in 2010 and nearly half of the electorate disliking Malloy, Rose said the election is too close to call with just days left in the campaign.
Malloy, the former mayor of Stamford, has had a hard time connecting with voters, Rose said.
"It's the perception that he talks to people and not with people," Rose said. He added that Malloy is "a little stilted" when he talks and "he has almost no charisma."
He compared Malloy to John Rowland, the disgraced former three-term Republican governor who served 10 months in prison for fraud and is now facing more prison time for his role in further campaign fee fraud.
"Rowland always had kind of an edge, but he was funny," Rose said. "Malloy lacks that altogether. You don't feel Malloy."
But Foley, a wealthy Greenwich businessman, also struggles when it comes to connecting with people, Rose said.
"I think people perceive him to be on the slightly arrogant side, but when you meet him he is not," Rose said.
Foley, who dropped out of a televised debate late in the campaign, comes across as "distant" and lacks the common touch, Rose said.
The divide in the state is sharp, Rose said, with about half of the voters saying the state is doing worse while the other half said the state is improving.
He said those hardened positions - combined with the lack of affection voters have for both men - hasn't enable either man to pull ahead. A Quinnipiac Poll this week shows them deadlocked at 43 percent vs. 43 percent as Election Day nears.
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