A poll done by Umass-Lowell shows Democrat Attorney General Thomas Reilly beating Gov. Romney in a gubernatorial race, although Romney’s favorability rating was up 8% since the last poll taken on the subject in September.

The UMass-Lowell poll shows Reilly beating Romney 45 to 41 percent with 14 percent of the likely voters undecided. The poll was conducted through random telephone interviews with 403 Massachusetts voters from Jan. 24 through Jan. 27.

Despite the fact that Reilly has not officially announced his candidacy, Democrat leaders utilized the poll results to promote Reilly as a viable candidate for governor.

“The ultimate test of a governor is whether he can get things done and
voters in this state view Tom Reilly as someone who gets things done,”
state Democratic Party Chairman Philip Johnston said in a statement. “It is becoming increasingly clear that Gov. Romney can be beat.”

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom called the data “interesting but irrelevant.”

“The last poll I saw had John Kerry winning the White House, and we all
know how that turned out,” he said. “We don't take polls too seriously,
particularly when they're taken almost two years out from an election.”

In a similar hypothetical match-up, Romney beat Secretary of State Willaim Galvin. Poll results can be found at http://www.uml.edu/umasspoll/umas_poll.htm