Quinnipiac

Christopher Christie, leading Gov. Jon Corzine 53%-41% in today's Quinnipiac University poll, is the first Republican in twelve years to lead in a statewide race in July, and is likely the first Republican since Thomas Kean, Sr. in 1985 to be at 50% during the summer.

Past Quinnipiac University polls:

July 1997: Christie Whitman 46%, James E. McGreevey 39%
June 2000: Corzine 46%, Bob Franks 26%
June 2000: Al Gore 45%, George W. Bush 40%
July 2001: McGreevey 48%, Bret Schundler 35%
June 2002: Bob Torricelli 44%, Douglas Forrester 36%
June 2004: John Kerry 46%, Bush 40%
June 2005: Corzine 47%, Forrester 37%
June 2006: Bob Menendez 43%, Tom Kean, Jr. 36%
June 2008: Frank Lautenberg 47%, Dick Zimmer 38%
June 2008: Barack Obama 45%, John McCain 39%

Bill Stepien, the campaign manager for GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie, says a new Quinnipiac University poll that has his candidate with a twelve point lead, 53%-41%, shows that New Jersey voters don’t like Jon Corzine.

"Today's poll makes it harder for Jon Corzine to ignore what New Jerseyans have known all long - they don't want a governor who took away their property tax rebates, raised $1.2 billion in new taxes and watched as the state lost nearly 200,000 jobs,” Stepien said.  “New Jerseyans know Jon Corzine can throw a campaign rally and spend tens of his millions on misleading attack ads, but they also know our unemployment rate is 8.8% and climbing and our state has the highest tax burden in the country.  Unfortunately for Jon Corzine, New Jerseyans know a lot about a record he would rather forget."

A new Quinnipiac University poll shows President Barack Obama with a 60%-34% approval rating among likely voters in New Jersey, a slight drop from where he was last month.  Obama has a 54%-38% approval rating among Independents, 53%-41% among White voters, 86%-7% among Black voters, 53%-41% among men, 66%-29% among women, 90%-7% among Democrats, and 2%-71% among Republicans. 

Obama will be in New Jersey on Thursday to campaign for Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election.

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie leads in Quinnipiac University's Boardwalk Poll: more likely voters, 40%-38%, say they "would rather stroll the Atlantic City Boardwalk" with him over the incumbent Governor, Jon Corzine.  Men prefer strolling with Christie (44%-35%), while women would rather stroll with Corzine (40%-38%).  Republicans (72%-12%), Independents (47%-29%), and White voters (46%-34%) would rather walk with Christie, while Democrats (66%-15%), and Black voters (57%-18%) would rather join Corzine.

Democrats and Republicans are slightly more likely to root for the Yankees than the Mets or Phillies than Independents, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today showing 44% of state voters interested in baseball say the New York Yankees are their favorite baseball team.  Democrats and Republicans are essentially the same when it comes to picking a baseball team.

21% of New Jersey voters say the New York Mets are their favorite team, and 20% say it is the Philadelphia Phillies.

Among Democrats: Yankees 46%, Phillies 21%, Mets 20%.
Among Republicans, Yankees 44%, Phillies 21%, Mets 20%
Among Independents: Yankees 41%, Mets 22%, Phillies 20%

"Dress New Jersey baseball fans - men and women, young and old - in Yankee pinstripes.  There are just about as many Yankee fans as there are Phillies and Mets backers combined.  Only in the Philadelphia suburbs do the Phillies dominate," said Clay Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. 

Noteworthy in the Quinnipiac University poll is that Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie has favorables of 36%-15% among likely general election voters, despite the Mid-Atlantic Democratic Leadership Fund spending an estimated $1.2 million on network television ads aimed at building his negatives.

A June 15, 2005 Quinnipiac poll taken a week after the gubernatorial primary showed Democrat Jon Corzine leading Republican Douglas Forrester by ten points, 47%-37%.  Among likely general election voters, Forrester had favorables of 20%-14%.  Corzine was at 33%-21%, and as a U.S. Senator he had job approvals of 51%-32%. Corzine's favorables are now upside down at 35%-53%, and approvals are upside down at 36%-56%.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) has approval ratings of 44%-36%, and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) has approvals of 40%-31%, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll.  Lautenberg, who faces a primary challenge from U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews in 2008, has a 64%-17% approval rating among Democrats.  Menendez is at 59%-15% among Democrats. 

One week after winning just 77% in an essentially unopposed Democratic primary, a new Quinnipiac poll shows Gov. Jon Corzine continuing to struggle to win the approval of likely New Jersey voters.  He has an upside-down approval rating of 36%-56% -- the worst since he became Governor. 

Demographic and geographic breakdowns:

Independents: 27%-63%
Democrats: 59%-30%
Republicans: 15%-80%
Men: 34%-60%
Women: 37%-51%
White: 31%-62%
Black: 59%-30%
Essex/Hudson: 49%-44%
Bergen/Passaic/Union/Middlesex/Mercer: 41%-51%
Burlington/Camden/Gloucester/Salem/Cumberland/Cape May: 33%-56%
Monmouth/Ocean/Atlantic: 25%-68%.

Republican Christopher Christie leads Gov. Jon Corzine in South Jersey by eight points, 48%-40%, in a new Quinnipiac University poll.  Quinnipiac defines South Jersey as Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem counties.  

In the shore counties, defined as Atlantic, Ocean and Monmouth, Christie leads 59%-30%.  Corzine leads in Essex and Hudson, 57%-38%, and Christie has a 59%-35% lead in Morris, Somerset, Hunterdon, Sussex and Warren.

In the region of the state that includes Bergen, Passaic, Union, Middlesex, and Mercer counties, Christie leads 45%-44% -- a statistical dead heat.

The Quinnipiac University poll on the 2009 race for Governor of New Jersey did not include any of the ten third party candidates, including Christopher Daggett, a former state Environmental Protection Commissioner and Reagan administration EPA official who has filed as an Independent candidate for Governor.  The poll, where Christopher Christie leads Jon Corzine, 50%-40%, gives one vote to someone else (presumably Independents), with 9% still undecided.

Daggett says he is weeks away from qualifying for state matching funds, which would give him at least $1 million to spend on his campaign for Governor.