Brian Fitzpatrick is in the lead according to a survey conducted on behalf of his campaign.

Communication Concepts found GOP nominee Brian Fitzpatrick with a twelve point advantage over his Democratic opponent State Rep. Steve Santarsiero, 50% to 38%.

That lead extends across all demographics and areas of the district.

Internal polls are always tricky, however, because we usually don’t have access to the full findings. Therefore, we don’t know how questions were asked and what the demographic makeup of the respondents was.

For example, Santarsiero Campaign Manager Eric Goldman seemed to indicate to Tom Sofield of the Levittown News that Brian Fitzpatrick was benefiting from the popularity of his older brother, retiring incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick.

“Once voters know that Brian is not his brother Mike, but instead was recruited by Republican Party bosses to move to Pennsylvania and that Brian supports Donald Trump for president, wants to defund Planned Parenthood, and plans to vote for a budget that would slash Social Security and Medicare, there is no doubt that the voters of the Eighth Congressional District will elect Steve Santarsiero as our next Congressman,” Goldman told Sofield.

Fitzpatrick’s familial background, which he emphasized in his first TV ad, could work both ways for him. Voters may be drawn to him because they supported his brother in the past or, as Goldman notes, they could be persuaded that Republicans are trying to pass him off as his brother.

Presidential Contest

The Communication Concepts poll found that 42% of respondents support Hillary Clinton while 37% back Donald Trump. Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein received 7% and 3% respectively. 11% of voters were undecided.

Additionally, Clinton recorded a 37/57 favorable/unfavorable split compared to Trump’s 38/54 split.

The 8th Congressional District represents all of Bucks County as well as parts of upper Montgomery County.

This survey was conducted by Communication Concepts from September 6th to September 7th. They polled 416 likely voters through live phone interviews with landlines and cell phones. The partisan breakdown was 43% Republican, 42% Democratic and 15% Independent. The gender breakdown was 47% male, 53% female. The margin of error is +/- 5.5%.