State of the Race: New Jersey Governor (11/1/09)

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While the special election in NY-23 may have forced Virginia's gubernatorial race on the backburner, the race for control of the New Jersey executive branch has not met a similar fate. The Garden state contest is every bit as close as things in the 23rd if only lacking in sheer unpredictability. Many talked about Corzine coming back to win, but the incumbent certainly took his time getting started on that trail, and may have an independent candidate's catching fire in the closing weeks for the tightening margin between the Democratic governor and Chris Christie, his Republican rival.

2009 New Jersey Gubernatorial Race Polling
Poll	Date	Margin of Error	Sample	Corzine	Christie	Daggett	Undecided
Monmouth/Gannett [pdf]	Oct. 28-30, 2009	+/- 3%	1041 likely voters	42	42	8	5
YouGov/Polimetrix [pdf]	Oct. 27-30, 2009	+/- 4.4%	780 likely voters	43	41	8	8

The two polls released today in the race did nothing to change that. Christie and Corzine are knotted in the low 40s and Chris Daggett seems to be fading slightly heading into Tuesday's vote. Whether that makes his supporters rethink the wisdom of casting a ballot for a third party candidate dropping in the polls, though, remains to be seen.

As for FHQ's averages, they continue to show a tightening race. The margin between the two major party candidates has now slipped below four points with Corzine flirting with the 40% mark and Christie narrowing in on the 43% level. With just a couple of days left for polls to emerge in this race, it is likely safe to say that, unlike other sites that have shown Corzine take the lead, that won't be the case here. There isn't enough time and won't be enough polls to change that in our averages. That said, we will offer an alternative model that shows slightly different results on Monday. It isn't an official change, but it will make for an interesting comparison.

Stay tuned...

Of course, there may be a new poll out in this race before then.

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State of the Race: Virginia Governor (11/1/09)

State of the Race: New Jersey Governor (10/31/09)

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