A poll conducted by a Washington D.C. research firm hired by Fifth Congressional District Democratic candidate Roy Cho shows Cho with increasingly positive results against incumbent U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5) depending on how a critical poll query was asked.
Between June 19 and 22, Garin Hart Yang Research Group conducted a survey among a representative sample of 404 likely New Jersey 5th CD general election voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points, according to a press release issued by the Cho campaign. The district includes includes most of Warren and Sussex counties, a few Passaic municipalities, and parts of Bergen County.
The survey findings suggest that Cho, 32, of Hackensack, a mergers and acquisitions attorney currently on leave from his position as an associate at the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis, suffers from a severe deficit in name recognition – 21% recognize Cho, while 83% recognize Garret, 54, of Wantage, a six-term incumbent.
But using a system of what the pollsters called “trial heats,” the numbers between Cho and Garrett narrow, according to the release.
In the initial trial heat, Garrett receives 47% of the vote, Cho stands at 34%, and 19% are undecided.
In an “informed” trial heat in which voters were presented with positive information about both candidates, Garrett garners 46% of the vote, Cho gets 42%, and 12% are undecided.
In a final trial heat in which voters were provided with negative information about both candidates, Cho pulls ahead of Garrett, getting 46% of vote, with Garrett trailing with 36% of the vote, and with 18% undecided.
