Democracy Corps poll finds Corzine now ahead of Republican challenger by 3 percentage points
With less than four weeks remaining before Election Day, a new Democracy Corps poll made public Thursday gives Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine a 3 percentage point lead over Republican challenger Chris Christie.
Corzine leads 41 percent to Christie's 38 percent with Independent Chris Daggett garnering 14 percent, his highest level yet.
Earlier in the week, another poll showed Corzine with a 1 percentage point lead.
The poll found that a barrage of criticism by Corzine's campaign over Christie's position on insurance coverage for mammograms for women turned potential women voters, especially independent women, against the Republican.
The poll was conducted for Washington-based Democracy Corps by Greenberg Quinlan, Rosner Research. James Carville and Stan Greenberg, who run the non-profit Democracy Corps have worked in the past as Democratic Party strategists.
The poll found Corzine has consolidated the vote among his base, crossing the 80 percent threshold among Democrats and winning for the first time more Democrats that Christie has Republicans.
The poll also found Christie's standing has declined markedly in the last two weeks, with 42 percent now rating the Rep ublican as unfavorable versus 30 percent who rate him favorably. The 12-point favorability decline equals a 10-point decline from two weeks ago.
Corzine is rated favorably by 37 percent of voters and unfavorably by 46 percent.
The poll states, "As he faced a withering assault from Corzine and independent groups over the issue of insurance coverage of mammograms, Christie has lost significant ground with women, especially independent women. He now posts a net favorability rating of -19 with women, down from -7 two weeks ago. Among independent women, the drop is even more pronounced: from -7 two weeks ago to -34 today, with half the independent women giving him an unfavorable rating. This has clearly benefited Corzine in the vote as the governor now leads among women by 14 points, up from 6 points two weeks ago.''
Daggett is identified by 45 percent of voters, an increase of 16 points over the last two weeks, though his overall favorability ratings remain only lukewarm at -4 points, about where he has been since the poll began tracking the race in August.
The poll was conducted Tuesday and Wednesday among 614 likely voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percent.
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