Gannett

Gov. Jon Corzine has an upside-down 40%-49% approval rating and trails Republican Christopher Christie by four percentage points, 39%-35%, according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released this morning.  Corzine has an upside-down favorable rating of 43%-47%.

Corzine leads another Republican, former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, 37%-33%. 

The poll did not include a Republican primary ballot test.

“For a Democratic incumbent in a blue state like New Jersey, Jon Corzine is certainly not in an enviable position.” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “However, the Republican primary campaign has recently taken a nasty turn which may have stalled Chris Christie’s momentum and boosted Steve Lonegan’s profile.”

More New Jerseyans favor same sex marriage than oppose it, according to a Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll released today.  The poll found that 48% favor same sex marriage, while 43% oppose it.  Half the voters oppose a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, while 41% favor a ban.

“One of the interesting things to come out of the California experience is that non-white Democrats with traditional cultural values provided the margin of victory for last November’s ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in that state,” said Murray. “In New Jersey, while black and Latino residents as a group do not favor same-sex marriage, they are hesitant to use the state constitution to deny it.”

Voters give Gov. Jon Corzine a C- overall grade in a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll.

Gov. Jon Corzine has an upside-down 34%-51% approval rating and gets a grade of D+ on providing property tax relief, according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released today. 

Corzine gets a D on making the state more affordable and a D+ for controlling costs and cutting waste.  He gets a C- for bringing ethics and honesty to state government and a C for improving schools.  He also gets a C for his effort. 

"The public is looking for strong leadership in this volatile time, but they are unsure of Jon Corzine's hand on the tiller," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.  "Independent voters, a critical group for the governor's re-election prospects, have become particularly doubtful over the past few months."

Gov.  Jon Corzine has a 43%-40% approval rating and leads Republican Christopher Christie 36%-32%, according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released this morning.  Corzine leads three other potential Republican candidates: Steve Lonegan 45%-29%, Rick Merkt 41%-27%, and Brian Levine 43%-27%.

More than six out of ten New Jersey voters (61%) say that Corzine should release his personal e-mails with Carla Katz just to “clear the air,” while just 29% believe he should keep them private.  35% of voters say they are less likely to vote for Christie because he served in George W. Bush’s administration, while 14% say more likely.  It makes no difference to half the voters.

Bob Ingle will now manage
a two-reporter statehouse
bureau for Gannett
New Jersey.

The latest casualties to media cutbacks are four Gannett New Jersey statehouse reporters: Tom Baldwin, Michael Rispoli, Lisa Ryan, and Greg Volpe.  That cuts Gannett’s statehouse bureau from six reporters to two, with only Bob Ingle and Michael Symons surviving the budget cuts.

Barack Obama and Frank Lautenberg are likely to carry New Jersey, according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll

Democrats Barack Obama and Frank Lautenberg have huge leads going into Election Day, according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released early this morning.  Obama leads Republican John McCain in New Jersey by 21 points, 55%-34%, amog likely voters.  In the race for U.S. Senate, incumbent Frank Lautenberg leads Republican Dick Zimmer, a former Congressman, by 19 points, 50%-31%.  

Offering a possible explanation for the increase in no opinion about the two candidates, Patrick Murray, the dirdctor of the Monmouth University Polling Institute said, “It may be that some voters simply realized that the election is next week and they still haven’t heard much, if anything, from their senate candidates.  Even with that, Lautenberg has a commanding lead.  To borrow from an old saying about Frank Sinatra, it’s Obama’s world this year and Frank Lautenberg is lucky to live in it.”

A new Deutsche Bank study of daily newspaper circulation data shows that the Courier News and the Daily Record have the biggest circulation drops in Gannett's national newspaper chain.  The Courier News had the greatest lost among dailies -- down 14.7%, 26,805 from 31,414 a year ago.  And among Sunday papers, the Daily Record is the biggest loser -- down 10% from 37,704 to 33,949.  The source is a website about Gannett run by one of their former reporters.

Marist College released a poll Friday evening that U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg has a narrow seven point, 48%-41%, lead among likely voters over Republican Dick Zimmer.  Among all voters, Lautenberg is ahead 47%-37%.  Recent independent polls has Lautenberg way out in front in his bid for a fifth term: he was up 22 points in a Quinnipiac poll, and ahead 16 points in a Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll.

The same poll has Barack Obama leading John McCain 56%-39% in New Jersey among likely voters (53%-36% among all voters).

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, with presidential candidate Barack Obama, has a huge lead in his bid for a 5th term

A new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll shows incumbent Frank Lautenberg with a 16 point lead over Dick Zimmer in the race for U.S. Senate -- 52%-36% among likely voters.  A Quinnipiac University poll released this week has Lautenberg ahead by 22 points.  Zimmer, a former Republican Congressman, remains unknown to 56% of voters.

“With just two weeks to go, the incumbent’s stealth campaign appears to be succeeding. Of course, it certainly helps that his challenger has yet to introduce himself to most of the state’s voters,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.  “Given the lack of visible campaign activity, Lautenberg seems to be coasting along on Obama’s coattails.”

Lautenberg has a 48%-28% job approval rating, up from 45%-33% in July.  He has a 45%-24% favorable rating.  Zimmer has a 28%-16% favorable rating.  

Just 6% of New Jersey voters are closely following the race for U.S. Senate between Frank Lautenberg and Dick Zimmer: Getty Images Photo
A new  Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll has U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg leading GOP challenger Dick Zimmer 46%-36% -- the latest in a series of polls that show the four-term Democrat with a double digit lead.  The poll shows that just 45% of voters are showing interest in the Senate race, and just 6% are following it closely.  83% of New Jersey voters have a lot of interest in the race for President.