With two months remaining until New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine stands for re-election, the incumbent continues to trail his Republican challenger, Chris Christie,, according to independent polls conducted by Quinnipiac University Aug. 25-30 and Fairleigh Dickinson University conducted Aug. 24-30.
Christie leads Corzine 47 percent to 42 percent in the Farleigh Dickinson PublicMind poll of 715 likely voters. The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, showed that New Jersey voters continue to hold concerns about the state's future. Nearly half of those surveyed, 49 percent, say the state is on the wrong track and 38 percent responded that it's headed the right way.
Voters have pinned blame for the state's struggling economy on Corzine, which has contributed to the Democratic governor's low personal approval ratings and the difficulty he faces in his re-election contest this year.
The Quinnipiac poll of 1,612 likely voters, found that 57 percent of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of Corzine and 34 percent expressed a favorable opinion. Christie received a 41 percent favorable and 30 percent unfavorable rating. The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
Both campaigns have already run attack ads, but the Quinnipiac poll showed that Corzine's ads may be the ones that are backfiring. Voters told those pollsters they are evenly split -- 47 percent to 47 percent -- on the legitimacy of Christie ads that attack Corzine for failing to guard against economic collapse. But voters believe Corzine's ads criticizing Christie for giving contracts to individuals connected to President George W. Bush were considereed unfair by 56 percent of respondents and fair according to 36 percent.
CQ Politics rates the race Leans Republican.
-- Rachel Kapochunas
To follow the 2009 and 2010 governors' races, check out CQ Politics' Election Map
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