FDU poll: Lautenberg up by 16

The election is less than a month away, but 71% of New Jersey voters have still not heard of or have no opinion of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dick Zimmer, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll released today.

The poll of 760 likely voters puts incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg ahead of Zimmer 50% to 34%. 14% of voters are undecided.

“Zimmer jumped late into a fractious primary and won, but he has gotten no traction since,” said pollster Peter Woolley.

Zimmer was a late entrant in the GOP primary, filling the ballot spot that belonged to Goya Foods heir Andy Unanue, who dropped out after a three week long campaign. He narrowly edged out State Sen. Joe Pennacchio and beat economist Murray Sabrin to win the nomination.

Lautenberg, who has held the office since 1983 with a brief, two year break for a temporary retirement, is recognized by over 90% of respondents. He had to run in a contentious primary against U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, but won easily, even if he had to spend about $5 million to do it.

Woolley attributed Lautenberg’s comfortable lead to Zimmer’s lack of money (he had about $400,000 cash on hand as of the last reporting period) and the severe unpopularity of President Bush in the Garden State.

“If Zimmer could raise any money he might actually be able to put some dents in Lautenberg’s armor,” said Woolley. “But this has been a year so far in which feelings against the Republican president run so deep that it hurts all Republican candidates.”

The poll, which was conducted September 29th through October 5th, has a plus or minus 3.5% margin of error.