U.S. Senate

In the race for U.S. Senate, Frank Lautenberg leads Dick Zimmer 47%-38%, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. Lautenberg has a 50%-36% lead among women (men are split, 45%-42%), and a 73%-11% lead among Black voters, but Zimmer leads the four-term incumbent among Independents, 43%-35%. The 84-year-old Lautenberg leads 49%-33% among voters 18-44, and 48%-41% with voters over age 45.

In South Jersey, the political base of Rep. Rob Andrews, who challenged Lautenberg in last week’s Democratic primary, Zimmer leads 51%-39%.

Frank Lautenberg leads Dick Zimmer, 47%-38%, in the race for U.S. Senate: Getty Images PhotoFour-term U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg has a 47%-38% lead over his GOP challenger, former Rep. Dick Zimmer, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released early this morning.  But 54% of voters say that the 84-year-old Lautenberg is too old to serve another term, and his 46%-35% job approval rating is his lowest disapproval in twelve years.

We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see the results of the Quinnipiac poll that measures Gov. Corzine’s approval rating and the Senate race between Frank Lautenberg and Dick Zimmer.

But state Senator/Essex County Republican Chairman Kevin O’Toole predicts that the poll on the Senate race will be close.

“Lautenberg has not been loved by the electorate. Look at his number. He has a 54% or 55% (approval) on his best day,” said O’Toole. “I think his best days are behind him.”

Quinnipiac University will release a new poll on the U.S. Senate race between Frank Lautenberg and Dick Zimmer, and on Gov. Jon Corzine’s job approval, on Wednesday morning.  The last Quinnipiac poll, in February 2008, showed Corzine with an upside-down 37%-52% approval rating.

ZIMMER CAMPAIGN RESPONSE TO

RASMUSSEN POLL

Democrat Frank Lautenberg and Republican Dick Zimmer are in a statistical dead heat , 45%-44%, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll released today – the first since the June 3 primary election.  The survey was conducted last week, after Lautenberg, a five-term incumbent, defeated Rep. Andrews in the Democratic primary.  Zimmer, who served in Congress from 1991 to 1997, won a three-way GOP primary.

Did the National Republican Senatorial Committee watch the primary election returns in New Jersey on Tuesday night? The NRSC has launched a website attacking a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Kansas for being a Washington lobbyist. 

ZIMMER CHALLENGES LAUTENBERG TO GO BACK TO THE FUTURE ON DEBATES

2008 Lautenberg Should Listen to 1982 Lautenberg, Republican Senate Candidate Says

Zimmer Says Voters Deserve To Hear Different Views on Taxes, Spending and Change

The race for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 2014 began last night as Democrats begin to position themselves over the next six years  -- either to succeed Frank Lautenberg, who will turn 91 three weeks after the end of his term, or against the 70-year-old Republican incumbent, Dick Zimmer.

Four organization lines failed to produce pluralities for Republican U.S. Senate candidates: Gloucester, which had backed Murray Sabrin, went 47%-27% for Joseph Pennacchio; Hunterdon, which stuck with their endorsement of Pennacchio after favorite son Dick Zimmer joined the race late, went for Zimmer by a 60%-30% margin; Salem, which had endorsed Pennacchio, went for Zimmer, 47%-41%; and Somerset, where Pennacchio won the convention and line, went for Zimmer, who had represented part of the county in Congress, by a 46%-43% margin. Zimmer also won Warren County, which has no organization line but where the GOP County Chairman had endorsed Pennacchio.