FDU

A new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll has Gov. Jon Corzine with upside-down job approvals among independents, 33%-60%, at 38%-50% among voters who come from a public pension household.  Three out of ten independent voters view neither Corzine nor Republican Christopher Christie as trustworthy, and are essentially tied on having the background and experience to be a good governor.  Christie leads 38%-31% among independents on his ability to understand the concerns of the average New Jerseyan.

Among independents, Corzine has upside-down favorables of 44%-59%, a substantial improvement over the 23%-64% last month.  Christie is at 40%-40%, and was at 34%-38% in September.  Daggett is at 23%-5% among independents, up from 10%-3%. 

In a three-way ballot test, Christie is getting 45% of the independent vote, with 24% for Corzine and 23% for Daggett.

Kinnelon attorney Gary Steele, an independent candidate for Governor, gets 12% of the vote in a statewide poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Gary Steele, a 50-year-old tax attorney and former hockey coach from Kinnelon, has never run for office before.  He has no apparent political base, practically no money, and has attracted little attention since he announced his candidacy for Governor as an independent four months ago.  But he's polling at 12% statewide against Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican Christopher Christie in a poll of likely voters conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University.  Against Steele, Corzine and Christie, the former U.S. Attorney, are tied at 38%.

FDU's decision to include an obscure independent candidate in their poll offers an interesting contrast to another independent candidate, Christopher Daggett.  Daggett, a former state Environmental Protection Commissioner, has raised enough money to qualify for public financing - that means he'll have more than $1.2 million to spend on his campaign, and gets to participate in gubernatorial debates with Christie and Corzine.  The FDU poll has Daggett at 17%, with 38% for Corzine and 37% for Christie. 

Daggett gets 4% from likely voters who picked him without his name being mentioned.  In that survey, Corzine leads 44%-43%. 

That means that despite his advantage of money and exposure, Daggett is running just 5% better than Steele among likely voters. 

Daggett has favorables of 16%-17%.  His name ID is at 50%, although more than half the people who have heard of him (27%) say they don't know enough about him to form an opinion.  Steele has statewide name ID of 15%, with favorables of 2% and unfavorable of 2%.  According to his poll numbers, Steele is about as well known statewide as State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) and Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, the two major party candidates for Lt. Governor.

Former state Commissioner of Environmental Protection Christopher Daggett, an independent candidate for governor, is polling at 9% statewide

Today's poll results show independent gubernatorial candidate Christopher Daggett trailing far behind his two major party rivals, but Daggett sees reason to be optimistic.

For one, although 67% of likely voters still don't know who Daggett is, that's down from 89% in last month's FDU poll.

"That's a remarkable jump, I think, and indicative of the fact that people in New Jersey are looking for an alternative. They are not satisfied with either of the candidates in my view," said Daggett, who served as Commissioner of Environmental Protection in Gov. Thomas Kean's cabinet.

One percent of the FDU poll's respondents volunteered Daggett as their preference when asked if they preferred someone other than Governor Jon Corzine or Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie.  In a Quinnipiac University poll released today, Daggett, who was included in the horse race question, gets the support of 9% of likely voters even though 87% had not heard enough about him to form an opinion.

"If I have 9% in the polls and my recognition is in the teens somewhere, that tells me when people hear about me they have a positive response," he said.  "I think what you'll see is the people as they get back from summer vacation and start to focus more -- as they see me in the debates and joint forums of one type of another -- you're going to see a change, and you're going to see it moving towards me because they're for me as opposed to against Corzine and Christie."

Quinnipiac University poll director Maurice Carroll said that Daggett gets much better numbers than the average independent or third party candidates, who tend to get a couple points by dint of voters' dissatisfaction with the two major party candidates.

"He's not going to win, but is he a factor?  Yeah. Nine points is a substantial factor," said Carroll, who added that his numbers could increase if voters like what they see in the televised debates, where Daggett - who raised the $340,000 necessary to receive public funds - gets his own podium.  It also depends on how close the race between Corzine and Christie is, since a close race between two higher profile candidates means an automatic drop off of for a candidate voters don't think can win.

Christopher Christie leads Gov. Jon Corzine by five points, 47%-42% among likely voters, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released this morning.  Independent Christopher Daggett, who was not listed as one of the choices, is at 1%.

A July FDU poll had Christie ahead 45%-49%.

Corzine continues to struggle with job approval numbers.  One-third of likely voters (33%) say he has done a poor job, and 40% rate him as only fair.  Just 22% say he has done a good job as governor, and only 3% rate him as excellent.

"This is the expected result of an increasing volume of negative advertising," said Peter Woolley, the poll director.

Corzine has an upside-down 37%-54% favorable rating, while Christie is at 38%-35%.  Since July, Corzine's numbers have essentially remained the same, while Christie's favorables unfavorables have gone up from 34%-25% in July.

"The most important difference between these two candidates right now is in the support each one gets from his own party's voters," said Woolley.  "Among Republicans, Christie is preferred by 85%. Meanwhile, Corzine gets the support of 73% of Democrats. "That is an improvement from his earlier, tepid support, but still lagging," said Woolley.

Asked which candidate is better described as "honest, trustworthy," Corzine and Christie are now essentially tied (31% Corzine, 32% Christie), but Christie, the former U.S. Attorney, had been the clear leader, 33%-24%, in the previous survey.

After nearly six months as President, Barack Obama enjoys a 61%-29% approval rating among New Jersey voters, according to a new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released this morning.  That is a slight drop from his 66%-22% approvals in an April poll.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan says his own campaign polling shows him trailing Christopher Christie by just four percentage points

In a radio interview tonight, gubernatorial candidate Steve Lonegan called a Fairleigh Dickinson Poll that showed him trailing rival Chris Christie by 24 points in the Republican primary "retarded."

The poll was brought up by NJ 101.5 "Jersey Guys" host Casey Bartholomew, who used it to argue his point that Lonegan was unelectable.  When he heard Lonegan use the term "retarded", he checked to make sure he heard correctly.

"I said just that: retarded Fairleigh Dickinson poll," said Lonegan.

Fairleigh Dickinson pollster Peter Woolley, for his part, did not take offense at the comments.

"I have a great deal of respect for Mayor Lonegan, and not least of all because he is an alumnus of Fairleigh Dickinson University," he said.  "I wish him the best of fortune."

But on March 31, one of Lonegan's core supporters, conservative activist and blogger Michael Illions, posted a quick note on Conservatives with Attitude asking readers to be aware of the harm that can come from the derogatory use of the word "retard."

"Most people don't think of this word as hate speech, but that's exactly what it feels like to millions of people with intellectual disabilities, their families and friends," wrote Illions, who became an advocate for the disabled after his own son was diagnosed with hydrocephalus.  "Using ‘retard' as a term of derision is just as cruel and offensive as any other slur."

Lonegan's appearance on the show tonight was notable in light of Friday's tense exchange between Bartholomew and Christie.  Bartholomew told Christie that he could not trust him because he would not remove his friend and advisor, John Inglesino, from the campaign over his $3,000 a year job with state Sen. Joe Pennacchio (R-Montville), which kept Inglesino in the pension system after he lost reelection as a Morris County freeholder.

Six out of ten likely New Jersey Republican primary voters consider themselves pro-life, while 32% of Republicans identify themselves as pro-choice, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released this morning.  But among Republicans, 51% favor stem cell research, while 31% oppose it.

68% of GOP gubernatorial candidate Steven Lonegan's supporters say they are pro-life (and 27% are pro-choice), while Christopher Christie supporters are pro-life by a 57%-34% margin.

By a 63%-30% margin, Republicans likely to vote in tomorrow's primary election consider themselves pro gun ownership.  GOP voters favor school vouchers by a 62%-23% margin.   More than seven out of ten (72%) oppose marriage equality, while just 20% favor it. 

Among GOP primary voters, 60% call the U.S. invasion of Iraq the "right thing," while 29% say it was a mistake.  And 83% oppose closing the U.S. prison facility at Guantanamo, while 9% favor the closure.

According to the FDU survey, 91% of New Jersey Republican primary voters identify themselves as white.

Chris Christie, the former U.S. Attorney, leads ex-Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan 54%-30% in a GOP gubernatorial poll released by Fairleigh Dickinson University today

Chris Christie has a 24 point lead, 54%-30%, over Steve Lonegan in tomorrow's Republican primary for Governor, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released this morning.  Rick Merkt is at 1%

The FDU poll had a sample size of 561 likely Republican primary voters statewide, with a margin of error of +/- 4%.  It was conducted by telephone from May 26, 2009 through May 30, 2009.

Gov. Jon Corzine continues to struggle for the approval of New Jersey voters. He is upside-down, with 40% approval and 46% disapproval.

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie leads Gov. Jon Corzine by nine percentage points, 41%-32%, in a Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind poll released this morning.

In a matchup among Republican primary voters, Christie leads former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan 43%-15%.  Two other candidates, Franklin Mayor Brian Levine and Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) barely register, at 2% and 1%, respectively.

Corzine’s approval rating is upside-down at 40%-46%.  And the governor has a taken major hit in popularity with public employee households, with only 31% of their members approving of his job performance, while 56% disapprove. 

“When budgets are cut, public employees laid off, and taxes are in danger of being raised, lots of people think twice about their support for the incumbent,” said pollster Peter Woolley.Christie’s name recognition, which the same poll measured at 44% in January, is now 57%.  Lonegan’s statewide name ID is at 33%.

Corzine does come out on top in head-to-head match ups with the other Republican gubernatorial candidates, but not by huge margins, leading Lonegan by four points, 36% to 32%.  He leads Merkt 38% to 28% and Levine 38% to 27%.

Frank Lautenberg leads Dick Zimmer 50%-34% in the race for U.S. Senate: Getty Images Photo
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.