51% of New Jersey voters say that Barack Obama coming to campaign for Jon Corzine had no impact on their choice for Governor, while only 38% say that Sarah Palin coming to campaign for Chris Christie would have no effect. When's the last time that six months into the term of a new administration the losing Vice Presidential candidate was more polarizing than the sitting President?
Overall voters in the state don't seem too interested in hearing from major national political figures about who they should support for Governor. Although Obama maintains a 53% approval rating in the state, the same as a month ago, only 18% of respondents say that his campaigning for Corzine made them more likely to support the Governor for reelection. 32% said his appearance made them less likely to do so.
Christie's decision not to have Palin in to campaign for him appears to be a prudent one. 42% of respondents said her appearance would make them less likely to vote for Christie with only 19% saying it would make them more likely to do so.
Here's where the Palin numbers are a lot more pertinent than the Obama ones though: only 2% of the people who said the Obama visit made them less inclined to vote for Corzine support him anyway. But among the people who said that a Palin visit would make them less likely to vote for Christie 25% were currently planning to support him. He would have a lot to lose with his moderate and Democratic supporters from a Palin appearance and little to gain since he already has the GOP base lined up behind him.
On another note New Jersey's Senators continue to be pretty unpopular with Frank Lautenberg's approval rating at 40% and Robert Menendez's at 29%.
Full results here
@ Tom: why no overall Palin approval numbers included in this poll?
ReplyDeleteAnd as a quiz item: when was the last time that a Democratic president a mere six months into his term was turning voters away from a Democratic candidate in a deep blue state like New Jersey by a ratio of 2:1?