Poll: Mason leads in Hoboken mayor's race, but most voters are undecided

HOBOKEN - With just Councilman Peter Cammarano and Councilwoman Dawn Zimmer the only declared mayoral candidates to date and two months until Election Day, Hoboken has the makings of a political battleground.    

A poll taken last month by American Research Surveys for a group of prominent Democratic Party members determined that Councilwoman Beth Mason leads the field in the mayor’s race, followed by Councilman Peter Cammarano and Dawn Zimmer, who statistically tie for second.

Cammarano improves his standing in the poll when emphasizing his opposition to the state takeover of the mile square city's budget, but a majority of voters polled are undecided about who should succeed Mayor David Roberts. 

Of 250 voters polled, Mason received 17% in the “hard support” category, followed by Zimmer with 9% and Cammarano with 8%. 

Councilman Michael Russo received 5% in the same category. Businessman Frank Raia received, Scott Delay and “other” each received 2%. 

In the “hard support” category, 56% respondents said they are undecided.

In the “soft support” category, of 140 voters polled, Mason received 6%, Zimmer 4%, Raia 4%, Russo 3%, and Cammarano received 2%. Thirty-seven percent registered an undecided vote.

In the hard and soft combined category in which pollsters tapped 250 voters, Mason won 23%, Zimmer 13%, Cammarano 10%, Russo 8%, Raia 5%, Delay 2%, and “other” 2%. Thirty-seven percent of voters said they were undecided.

Cammarano fared better in a fourth breakout poll in which 250 voters responded to the following piece of information: “City Council members Beth Mason, Dawn Zimmer and Michael Russo all voted for the state takeover that resulted in a 47% tax increase for Hoboken. Councilman Peter Cammarano urged his council colleagues to vote against the state takeover, and instead pass a budget that would have resulted in only a 7% increase. Now that you know this, who would you vote for if today were Election Day?”

In that category, Mason received 26%, Cammarano 22%, Zimmer 11%, Russo 6%, Raia 2%, and Delay 0%.  Thirty-seven percent said they were undecided.