U.S. Senator Jon Corzine leads Republican opponent Doug Forrester in the hotly-contested race to occupy the governor’s mansion in Trenton according to a new Richard Stockton College-Zogby International poll of likely voters.
The poll finds Corzine maintaining a seven-point edge over Forrester. The Forrester camp has been rocked in the final weeks of the campaign by allegations of campaign finance violations by Forrester’s Washington, D.C.-based insurance company, Heartland Fidelity Insurance. That’s the same margin Corzine led by ten days earlier, when a Stockton College-Zogby poll found him up 45% to 38%.
The statewide survey of 403 likely voters was conducted October 26 and 27, 2005. It has a margin of error of +/-5.0 percentage points.
While Corzine currently polls below 50%, the poll does come with some positive news for his campaign: 91% of Corzine’s supporters consider themselves strongly committed to the candidate, while that figure is 87% among Forrester backers. Corzine also has a better image among voters, with 55% of respondents saying they view the Democrat favorably versus 49% for the Republican.
A key stumbling block for Forrester may come from voters’ belief that Corzine is the best candidate on a range of issues. Corzine is twice as likely to be seen as the best candidate for education (54% versus 27%) while even on the critical issue of corruption in government, he holds a one-point lead, 34% to 33%. Republicans had counted on corruption being a key issue following the resignation of former Governor James McGreevey and Forrester had made it a centerpiece of his campaign. The numbers suggest the issue has not gained traction with voters in the Garden State.
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1033- - -
If Corzine were smart, he'd go all positive in his ad buys for the last week. Let Forrester look like a desperate candidate with nothing good to say about himself.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
