Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie leads Gov. Jon Corzine 46%-43% — a statistical dead heat — with independent Christopher Daggett dropping to 7%, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll released today.
Last week, Rasmussen had Christie ahead 41%-39%, with Daggett at 11%.
“The decline in support for Daggett comes in a week when several state newspapers endorsed Christie or Corzine, but none followed the Star-Ledger’s lead and came out in favor of the independent candidate,” Rasmussen said. “Additionally, Christie began a new ad campaign linking Corzine and Daggett.”
Corzine’s favorables are still upside-down, 41%-57%, the same as last week. Christie is also around the same, 49%-49%. 40% of likely voters have a “very unfavorable” view of Corzine; for Christie, it’s 27%. Christie's favorables are even, while Corzine is at -16.
Daggett, a former state Commissioner of Environmental Protection, has favorables of 42%-40%. His unfavorables are up eight points since last week and thirteen points over the last two weeks.
Christie has an eight-point lead among voters who say they are certain to vote and his supporters are less likely to change their minds, the poll says. Corzine does better among registered voters who are less likely to turnout – which may be why President Obama and former President Bill Clinton are returning to New Jersey for the second time in as many weeks.
“At this point, there is no possible way to project what will happen on Election Day,” Rasmussen said. “The Democrats clearly have an edge in New Jersey when it comes to getting out the vote, which is one reason no Republican has won a statewide race in New Jersey since 1997. It's also impossible to know how much support Daggett will retain.”
"About the only thing certain in New Jersey at the moment is that the next governor will be someone that is disliked by at least half the state," Rasmussen said.
