But Quinnipiac Has Christie Up 10
But the second poll, from Quinnipiac, has better news for the Republican Christie, with him expanding his lead from early August.
General Election Matchup
Christie 47 (+1 from 8/11)
Corzine 37 (-3)
Daggett 9 (+2)
Heading into today, Christie lead Corzine by 7 percent in the RCP Average. That composite includes surveys testing both a three-way race with independent Chris Daggett and those simply testing Corzine and Christie head-to-head. Quinnipiac had been testing both three-way and two-person races but dropped the latter this month.
Favorable Ratings
Christie 41 / 30
Corzine 34 / 57
Daggett 8 / 4
Christie's net fav/unfav number has slipped from 16 to 11, as has the governor's -- from a -17 to -23. Corzine's job approval rating has also slipped somewhat, with 34 percent approving and 60 percent disapproving. The campaigns' negative ads are certainly playing a role and most voters say they have seen them. But only 36 percent say an earlier Corzine spot criticizing Christie for giving contracts to former Bush administration officials was "a legitimate campaign issue," while voters were split on whether a Christie spot targeting Corzine on the economy was fair.
A more recent Corzine spot, however, targets a loan that Christie gave to a subordinate but did not report. Sixty-six percent of voters say they had heard about the issue, and 43 percent say it would be a legitimate campaign issue, while 49 percent say it's an unfair attack. A slightly higher percentage say Corzine's years-old loan to former CWA union official Carla Katz was a legitimate issue -- 45 percent vs. 47 percent say it's unfair.
Most voters say the negative campaign is par for the course -- 63 percent say it's standard New Jersey politics, while 31 percent say it's been nasty. Corzine takes more blame from those who think it has been nasty -- 38 percent say he's at fault, vs. 18 percent who blame Chrisitie.
President Obama's approval rating has slipped from 60 percent in early July to 51 percent; 43 percent disapprove.
The survey of 1,612 likely voters was conducted from August 25 - 30, and had a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points.