Independent Chris Daggett continues to poll in double digits in the New Jersey governor's race in a new Quinnipiac University poll conducted Oct. 27 to Nov. 1. And the poll found that a higher proportion of Daggett voters now rate incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, D, as their second choice over Republican challenger Chris Christie.
Christie has a narrow lead in the Quinnipiac poll over Corzine 42 to 40 percent, within the 2.5 percent margin of error. Both men have essentially the same proportion of support from their party's likely voters, while Christie has the support of independents, 47 percent to 32 percent for Corzine.
Daggett received 12 percent of the vote, down a point from the 13 percent he polled in a survey the firm released Oct. 28. That largely echoes poll results released Thursday by Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Daggett's vote share on election day is likely the key to the race, but its unclear whether a large turn-out for him would ultimately benefit Christie or Corzine more. Conventional wisdom has held that Daggett is taking more voters from Christie than Corzine, but in the latest survey, 39 percent of likely Daggett voters said they would back the Democrat second, compared to 29 percent who would pick Christie second. Seventeen percent said they wouldn't vote.
Overall, Daggett voters are much less certain than their counterparts of their final vote. Thirty-eight percent of his backers said they might change their mind on election day, versus just 10 percent of Christie voters and 13 percent of Corzine voters.
A majority -- 53 percent -- of voters continue to hold an unfavorable opinion of Corzine, including 64 percent of independents. Christie's favorable and unfavorable ratings are essentially even; 41 percent view him favorably to 40 percent who view him unfavorably. Daggett is the only one with a significant net favorable ratings -- 23 percent to 17 percent -- but 57 percent of respondents said they hadn't heard enough about Daggett to form an opinion.
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