Poll: Race tied as independents desert both parties

by: Hopeful

Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 09:43:21 AM EDT

The headline is the tied race. What's going on? The report (PDF) points to this:

A key dynamic in this race is the migration of independent voters from both major party candidates to Chris Daggett.  Currently, 45% of independent voters support Christie, 21% support Corzine and 22% support Daggett.  Before the first gubernatorial debate three weeks ago, Christie claimed nearly half (49%) of the independent vote and Corzine had 28%, while only 11% favored Daggett.

The striking thing to me is that Corzine still is at year-long level of 39% - the race is close as Christie collapses with independents. Furthermore, Christie is sliding with Republicans while Corzine is rising with Democrats, though to be sure Christie' 81% is better than Corzine's 76%, and the subsamples are small. Patrick Murray put it this way:

"Democrats who flirted with Chris Christie earlier in the year have come back into the fold.  It also looks like some GOP voters may have become disenchanted with their white knight.  That's not a good sign for the Republican at this late stage of the game,"

I do suggest you read the report which has more on issues and views of the candidate.

And in case you were wondering, property taxes continues to be the issue that voters want addressed in this ever-shortening campaign.  More than half (54%) name it as one of their top two concerns, followed by the economy and jobs (33%), health care (22%), other taxes (21%), state spending (13%), education (11%), and corruption (7%).

Don't you think those numbers on health care vs corruption are a sign of whose campaign was better? Well, when Thurman Hart and Paul Mulshine say the same thing about Christie, you might not need me to pile on.

President Obama's job approval rating is 53-39.  Monmouth points out "Among those still undecided in the governor's race, he garners a net positive 44% approve to 35% disapprove."

Very few people have an opinion of the lieutenant governor candidates.