poll

John McCain and BarackObama at a Senate hearing in 2006: Getty Images PhotoDemocrat Barack Obama has a six point lead over Republican John McCain in New Jersey, 45%-39%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning. In a February 21 Quinnipiac poll, Obama led McCain 46%-39%.

“Sen. Barack Obama shows every sign of keeping New Jersey in the blue state column in the presidential election, rolling up the kinds of numbers that routinely elect Democrats year after year,” said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Almost a majority says the economy is the most important issue in the campaign; President Bush’s approval rating is near his all time low; only 29 percent support the war in Iraq – all bad news for Sen. John McCain who enters the state with Republicans already the registration underdogs.”

A new Rasmussen Poll shows Gov. Chris Gregoire with a 50-43 lead over Republican Dino Rossi. This is a narrower margin than last month's result from the same pollster that showed the incumbent with an eleven point spread, but closer than a February poll that had Rossi with a one point lead.

Rasmussen also showed both candidates' favorability ratings over 50 percent, with Rossi at 52 and Gregoire at 55. Gregoire leads among women by 18 points and Rossi leads among unaffiliated voters by 12, a marked contrast from the last poll which gave the governor a nine point cushion in that group.

A SurveyUSA poll, posted earlier today, shows Gregoire with a 50-47 lead over Rossi.

A new poll conducted by SurveyUSA for KING-TV in Seattle and KATU-TV in Portland, Oregon shows Gov. Chris Gregoire with a 4 point lead over Republican challenger Dino Rossi, 50-47. The poll was conducted from June 7 through June 9 among 900 citizens, 637 of whom identified themselves as likely voters.  

Rossi leads among men and Hispanics, but Gregoire is ahead in nearly every other demographic group.

Two polls in April by SurveyUSA showed similar numbers. Full results and crosstabs from the poll can be found here.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows Gov. Jon Corzine with upside-down approval numbers
Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan said that the Governor’s 38%  approval rating in the Quinnipiac poll released today was “not unexpected.”

Corzine is undertaking some tough but necessary reforms in the state budget, Cryan said.

“The Governor has been dealing with the economic problems in the state. He’s not doling money out.  We think that people ultimately are going to respect what we’re doing and it will put us in a positive position next year,” he said.

Nor was Cryan surprised by that the email controversy between Gov. Corzine and union leader Carla Katz, an ex-girlfriend, hasn’t stoked the public fury – despite GOP Chairman Tom Wilson’s push to make the emails public.

Patrick Murray, the Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, has an interesting post on summer polling in U.S. Senate races that is a must read for campaign watchers.

Quinnipiac University will release a new poll on the battle for New Jersey’s fifteen electoral votes on Thursday morning.  A recent Rasmussen Reports poll has Democrat Barack Obama leading Republican John McCain by nine percentage points.

According to the new Quinnipiac University poll, New Jerseyans don’t think Governor Jon Corzine should be forced to release personal e-mails sent to his former girlfriend, CWA Local 1034 President Carla Katz.  More than half of the voters (52%) say they should be kept private, and 39% say they should be released.  Even Republicans have mixed feelings: 46% release, 44% keep private.

So Democrats are split on whether Frank Lautenberg is too old to serve in the U.S. Senate until he’s nearly 91-years-old: in today’s Quinnipiac poll, 48% of Democrats say he is too old and 49% say he is not.  Those numbers don’t reflect the results of last week’s Democratic primary, where Lautenberg won a landslide victory over Rob Andrews, who made age an issue.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez has a 36%-26% approval rating among New Jersey voters in a Quinnipiac University poll released today.  These numbers represent a considerable improvement from the upside-down 30%-31% approvals had in the last Quinnipiac survey on February 20. 

In the race for U.S. Senate, Frank Lautenberg leads Dick Zimmer 47%-38%.  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%.