A new Quinnipiac University poll again shows New Jersey voters are unwilling to let pollsters know their opinions. Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg, who has never been the most popular incumbent in his home state, once again finds himself in bad position going into an election year.

The poll, conducted 2/13-18, surveyed 1,803 registered voters for a margin of error of plus or minus 2%. Lautenberg and Senator Bob Menendez, a fellow Democrat, were surveyed.

General Election Matchup
(All / Dem / GOP / Ind / Men / Wom)
Lautenberg 37 / 66 / 9 / 29 / 33 / 40 (-2 from last, 9/07)
Generic GOP 30 / 8 / 66 / 29 / 27 / 35 (-6)

Neither Menendez nor Lautenberg have huge favorable ratings. Just 39% say they approve of Lautenberg's job as a Senator, and only 30% approve of Menendez's job performance. In both cases 31% disapprove of the senators' jobs.

But those low numbers are dangerous for Republicans as well as Democrats. New Jersey voters watch television in either the New York or the Philadelphia media markets, making investment in advertisements very expensive. Come October, this race will probably be closer than a ten-point affair, making it an attractive target for the NRSC.

But a week before the election, undecided voters in New Jersey remember they are Democrats, and Lautenberg could pull away, as Menendez did in 2006 and as Governors Jim McGreevey and Jon Corzine did during their elections. If Republicans decide to sink a few million dollars in the race late in the cycle, they could do little more than divert that money from more winnable races.

Lautenberg ended 2007 with more than $4.3 million in the bank, though he maintains about $2.1 million in debt. He will likely face either real estate developer Anne Evans Estabrook, who national Republicans appear to favor, or Joe Pennacchio, a conservative state assemblyman. Both could make an issue of Lautenberg's 84 years of age: 58% of respondents said Lautenberg is too old to serve another six years, while just 36% said it was not a concern of theirs.