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Tea Party Senate Races
10/22/2009, by Proloy Bhatta
Rutgers-Eagleton Poll, October 15-20
Chris Daggett, independent candidate for the New Jersey governor race currently garners the support of 20% in the latest poll by Rutgers.
His strong showing is believed to be siphoning off votes from the Republican challenger Corzine and allowing the democratic incumbent Christie to win. Corzine holds a razor thin lead over Christie, 39% to 36%, even though he was behind by double digits just a few months ago.
Daggett's goal has been to siphon off votes from both sides and get high enough in the polls where voters see him as having a legitimate chance to win. He believes that will give him the credibility to win the votes of those afraid to waste their vote.
The second gubernatorial debate was held on October 16, so two-thirds of the polling dates in question were after the debate. When independent candidates are included in the debates, they appear more credible.
Barack Obama's approval rating in New Jersey is 87 percent and he is hoping that will help him stump for Chris Christie, the incumbent Democrat Governor.
Fox News says that the New Jersey and Virginia governor elections will test Obama's prestige. My personal feeling was that Obama should not campaign for the candidates in NJ and VA but Larry Sabato, director for the Center of Politics at the University of Virginia, disagrees. He said that Obama was "going to be held accountable for the result regardless. He might as well make an effort".
Cliff Zukin, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University, agreed that "if New Jersey goes Republican even if it's by virtue of Chris Christie and statewide issues such as our property tax, it's going to be perceived as a referendum on Obama". (source)
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