poll

Christopher Christie might have a ten point lead over Jon Corzine in the race for governor, but voters don't necessarily view the former U.S. Attorney as warm and fuzzy.  A Quinnipiac University poll says that likely voters would just narrowly, 38%-36%, prefer to go see a football game at Giants Stadium with Christie than with Corzine.  Men would rather go with Christie, while women prefer Corzine.  Three weeks ago, voters said by a 42%-36% margin that they would rather spend an afternoon at the beach with Corzine than with Christie. 

One-third of the voters, 33%, say that a candidate with a likeable personality is not important, while 23% say it is very important and 43% say it is somewhat important.

By a 38%-18% margin, voters blame Corzine over Christie for the negative tone of the gubernatorial campaign. 

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.

Quinnipiac University will release a new poll on Tuesday morning featuring a head-to-head matchup between Gov. Jon Corzine and his Republican opponent, former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie.  This will be the first Quinnipiac poll since news of a personal loan made by Christie and his wife to Michele Brown, a top career federal prosecutor until her resignation last week.

An August 11 Quinnipiac poll had Christie leading Corzine 46%-40% among likely voters in a three-way matchup.  Independent Christopher Daggett was at 7%.  

Republican Christopher Christie leads Gov. Jon Corzine 39%-36% among definite voters, according to a poll conducted by Neighborhood Research, a survey firm run by conservative strategist Rick Shaftan.  Independent Christopher Daggett is at 6%.

Corzine leads 52%-13%-9% among liberals, and 40%-34%-4% among moderates.  Christie has a 63%-13%-7% lead among conservatives.  Undecided voters "skew heavily to the left," according to the poll analysis.  Among seniors, Corzine leads 46%-32%-4%.

Corzine has an upside-down 23%-46% favorable rating; Christie is also upside-down at 20%-27%. Daggett remains largely unknown, with favorables of 2%-1%.

President Barack Obama has a 47%-28% favorable rating among likely New Jersey voters.  In a generic ballot test for the State Assembly, Republicans lead 40%-35%.

Among all voters, Corzine leads Christie 37%-35%, with 6% for Daggett. 

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie is over 50% in a Quinnipiac University poll of the New Jersey gubernatorial race for the third consecutive month. Christie was at 50% in June, 53% in July, and 51% in August.  He is the first Republican statewide candidate to hit the 50% mark in independent polls in 24 years; the last was Thomas Kean, who won re-election in 1985 with 70% of the vote.

Gov. Jon Corzine, struggling to win a second term, seems to be getting Democrats back on his side.  A Quinnipiac University poll released today has Corzine leading Republican Christopher Christie 83%-10% among Democrats.  In a July poll, Corzine led Christie 76%-19%.   Corzine's electoral problems among Democrats became evident when the governor won just 77% in the June 2 Democratic primary against three challengers with no money, no base, no organization, and no name identification.

A Quinnipiac University poll released today shows that New Jersey voters associates political corruption more with Democrats (50%) than with Republicans (15%).  Nearly two-third of New Jerseyans say the recent wave of arrests of public officials embarrasses them, while one-third says it does not.  

Even though most of the political figures arrested last month were Democrats, voters don’t seem to hold the Democratic Governor accountable.  Just 28% say the arrests make them less likely to support Jon Corzine’s bid for a second term.  67% of voters said the arrests would not make them less likely to back Corzine.

The number of likely voters who think Republican Christopher Christie would do a better job handling the state budget than the Democratic incumbent, Jon Corzine, has changed considerably from July to August.  Christie leads Corzine on this question 47%-41%, a drop from the 50%-36% that picked Christie over Corzine on the state budget issue in a Quinnipiac poll released less than a month ago.

Corzine' greatest strength during his 2000 and 2005 statewide campaigns - his background as a Wall Street investment banker - seems to have little effect on his bid for re-election.  Less than one-quarter of voters (24%) say his career in finance - he was Co-Chairman of Goldman Sachs - has made him a better governor; 19% say it has made Corzine a worse governor; and 53% say it makes no difference.

Voters continue to view Christie as the candidate most likely to clean up corruption (54%-31%), but political corruption is only the top issue for 6% of the electorate.  More than half the voters (55%) say that Christie's seven years as U.S. Attorney gives him enough experience to be governor.  35% say it has not.

The New Jersey Legislature overall has an upside-down approval rating of 23%-63%, and but voters are split over which party they would like to see in control of the State Assembly after the November election.  45% say they would prefer the Republicans take control, while 43% want the Democrats to keep their majority, according to the Quinnipiac University poll.

The Legislature's job approval was at 27%-59% in July.  That means job approval has gone down over the last four weeks for a body that has been in recess since June.

Nearly half of independent likely voters (49%) prefer a GOP-controlled Assembly next year, while 28% of the independents want the Democrats to remain in charge.

In South Jersey, where Quinnipiac breaks down regional the "Phillyland" region to include likely voters in Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties, 51% prefer a Democratic Legislature while 38% want Republicans in charge. These numbers affect legislative contests in districts 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8.

New Jerseyans may not approve of the way Gov. Jon Corzine is doing his job, but they continue to like the state's two United States Senators, according to the Quinnipiac University poll.

Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) has a 45%-38% job approval rating, although he is upside-down (36%-50%) among independents. He was at 43%-40% one month ago.  Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) has a job approval rating of 39%-38%, and is also upside-down among independents (34%-39%).  Menendez was at 40%-37% in July.