Independent candidate Chris Daggett's support now reaches 20 percent when likely voters leaning one way or the other are included in the count, says a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll of the New Jersey governors race, conducted Oct. 15-20.

That is bad news for Republican Chris Christie, who trails incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine by 3 percent, within the plus or minus 4.1 percent margin of error. Neither major party candidate breaks 40 percent of the vote share -- Corzine leads 39 tpercent to 36 percent for Christie -- underscoring the dissatisfaction voters feel with both candidates and driving support to the third-party option.

Corzine still has negative approval ratings -- 70 percent of likely voters rate his job performance fair or poor -- and his support has not wavered much in the polls. But Christie has seen a drop in support since the summer, and part of the reason has been Daggett's rise. Among those voters who told the Rutgers-Eagleton poll they were backing the independent, 34 percent said they would vote for Christie if Daggett were not in the race; 28 percent would back Corzine; and 24 percent said they wouldn't vote.