The poll that’s going to keep the political classes chattering is here, showing Gov. Deval Patrick in a statistical dead heat when matched up in an election today against Republican challenger Christy Mihos, who received 7 percent of the vote in 2006. The poll was taken last week. WBZ’s Jon Keller calls the numbers “breathtaking.”

But there’s also some bad news in the Rasmussen/FOX25 poll for the lawmakers that Patrick is currently warring with (or, rather, as some legislators say, is using as election fodder):

Patrick is far from the only politician struggling in the court of public opinion in the state. Seventy-one percent (71%) of Massachusetts voters say the state’s legislators deserve a pay cut. Fifty-one percent (51%) favor making the legislature a part-time job.

Looks like Arthur from Acton isn’t alone. This comes as lawmakers received a constitutionally-mandated 5.5 percent pay bump earlier this year.