Quinnipiac

About two-thirds of New Jersey voters (66%) have heard something about Christopher Christie giving a personal loan to a former federal prosecutor who worked for him.  Of those who are aware of the Michele Brown loan, 43% say it is a legitimate campaign issue and 49% say it would be an unfair attack:

This might be the whole ballgame: Asked which gubernatorial candidate would so a better job of handling the state budget, Christopher Christie leads 51%-38% over Jon Corzine among likely voters, according to the Quinnipiac University poll. Those are good numbers in a state where 68% of voters believe New Jersey is going in the wrong direction.

Among Independents, Republican Christopher Christie leads Gov. Jon Corzine 46%-30%, with 16% for Christopher Daggett, a former state Environmental Protection Commissioner who is running as an independent, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.  Christie leads statewide among likely voters 47%-37%, with 9% for Daggett.

Christie leads 51%-36% among men (with 9% for Daggett), and 43%-39% among women (with 10%) for Daggett. 

In Essex and Hudson counties, Corzine has a 62%-28% lead over Christie, with Daggett at 5%.  Christie has a 43%-38%-10% lead in a region of the state that includes Bergen, Passaic, Union, Mercer, and Middlesex counties.  In the region that includes Morris, Somerset, Hunterdon, Sussex and Warren counties, Christie has a 57%-28% lead, with 10% for Daggett.  Christie leads Corzine 43%-40% in Camden, Gloucester, Burlington, Cumberland, Cape May and Salem, and has a massive 65%-20% lead over Corzine in Atlantic, Monmouth and Ocean.  Daggett is at 10% in the three shore counties.

Christie has statewide favorable of 41%-30%; 27% have not heard enough about him.  He's at 72%-10% among Republicans, upside-down 15%-47% among Democrats, 40%-32% among Independents, 47%-28% among men, and 36%-32% among women.  In Essex and Hudson, he's upside-down 31%-39%.  He's at 38%-32% in Essex, Passaic, Union, Middlesex and Mercer counties, at 47%-30% in Morris, Somerset, Hunterdon, Sussex and Warren counties, 35%-30% in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem Cumberland and Cape May counties; and 57%-21% in Atlantic, Ocean and Monmouth counties.

Corzine has an upside-down statewide favorable of 34%-57%; just 6% don't know who he is.  He's at 63%-25% among Democrats, upside-down at 31%-62% among independents, and upside-down 8%-85% among Republicans.  His favorable are upside-down among men (34%-59%) and women (34%-54%).  He's at 53%-37% in Essex and Hudson counties, but upside-down everywhere else in the state: 39%-49% in Bergen, Passaic, Middlesex and Mercer; 34%-72% in Morris, Somerset, Hunterdon, Sussex and Warren; 34%-57% in Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, Salem, Cumberland and Cape May; and 17%-73% in Atlantic, Ocean and Monmouth.

President Barack Obama has a 51%-43% approval rating in New Jersey, a state that he carried 57%-42% nine months ago, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.  Obama's local approval rating was at 56%-39% three weeks ago, at 61%-33% on July 14, and at 68%-25% on June 10. 

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie has a ten point lead over incumbent Jon Corzine in the race for Governor of New Jersey, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll

A new Quinnipiac poll shows Gov. Jon Corzine trailing Republican Christopher Christie by ten percentage points, 47%-37%, among likely voters, with independent Christopher Daggett running third with 9%.

An August 11 Quinnipiac poll had Christie leading 46%-40%, with Daggett at 7%. 

Corzine has upside-down approvals of 34%-60%, and has upside-down favorable of 34%-57%.  Christie has favorable of 41%-30%, while 87% of likely voters don't know much about Daggett.

 "Christie wins on many questions and he is pulling away from Corzine in a three-way matchup, with a double-digit lead," said Maurice Carroll, the poll director.  "Daggett's candidacy is just chipping away at the edges as he fails to climb out of single digits."

Nearly one-quarter of Democrats (26%) are not voting for the governor.  Christie is getting 15% of the Democratic vote, while 7% is going for Daggett.   Among independents, Christie leads Corzine 46%-30%, with Daggett getting 16%.  Christie gets 86% of the Republican vote, with 8% for Corzine and 4% for Daggett.

Of the 77% of likely voters who have seen one of Corzine's ads about Christie giving federal monitor contracts to Bush administration officials, 56% say the attacks are unfair and 36% view it as legitimate campaign issue. By a 59%-34%, independent voter say the issue is unfair.

Nearly half of voters (49%) who are familiar with charges, claims or attacks in the race for governor consider Corzine's attacks on Christie for giving a $46,000 personal loan to former federal prosecutor Michele Brown as unfair, while 43% call it fair.

Voters are split 45%-47% on whether it's fair to criticize Corzine for his personal relationship with former CWA President Carla Katz, and on Christie's ads criticizing Corzine for failing to guard against economic collapse.

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. 

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%.  

An interesting week in New Jersey politics:  Democrats are buoyed over news that may or may not be helpful to them - a Quinnipiac poll showing Republican Christopher Christie leading Gov. Jon Corzine by nine percentage points (better than the 12-point lead Christie had in July), and disclosure that Christie discussed his interest in running for Governor with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove while still serving as U.S. Attorney.  Republicans are pleased with their poll numbers - a nine point lead is substantial, especially since Christie passed the magic 50% number -- and think reports detailing mismanagement at the Waterfront Commission and the state Division of Developmental Disabilities bolsters their claim that Corzine should not get re-elected.   There were no arrests or indictments of political note, and only one former legislator was sentenced to prison this week.

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.