Posted on 05/22/2002 6:07:50 AM PDT by Exit 109
Edited on 07/06/2004 6:37:35 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Every year is an election year in New Jersey, and this November all of New Jersey
(Excerpt) Read more at politicsnj.com ...
Wednesday, May 22, 2002
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Douglas Forrester is winning the race for his party's nomination in the June 4 primary, but Burlington County's Diane Allen would be the toughest candidate for Democrats to beat in November, a new poll shows.
Forrester, a self-made millionaire from Mercer County, leads the field with support from 35 percent of likely, registered Republican voters, according to a KYW/Courier- Post/WABC poll released Tuesday. Allen trails with 25 percent, while state Sen. John Matheussen of Gloucester County had 13 percent, according to the poll conducted by SurveyUSA.
Forrester added 2 percent to his lead since the last poll was published in the May 9 Courier-Post. Allen's support remained the same. Matheussen lost 1 percent.
If the November matchup were held now, Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli would defeat all three Republicans, but Allen would run stronger than Matheussen or Forrester, the poll concludes.
For comparisons with Torricelli, the survey was expanded to include Democrats and registered voters who are unaffiliated with any party. Torricelli beat Allen by 45 percent to 41 percent; he defeated Forrester by 47 to 38 percent; and he downed Matheussen by 48 percent to 38 percent.
"The most important issue in this campaign is to nominate the Republican candidate who is the strongest candidate to defeat Bob Torricelli. Clearly, that candidate is Diane Allen," said her campaign manager, Brian Donahue.
SurveyUSA poll director Joseph Shipman said the race is far from over.
Although Forrester is clearly in the lead, he still has only 35 percent of the vote, Shipman said.
The fact that all three Republicans are within 10 points of Torricelli is surprising, he said.
"Torricelli is showing unusual weakness for such a powerful senator at this stage of the campaign," Shipman said.
Torricelli's campaign countered that residents have not heard much lately from the senator, a Hunterdon County resident who is unopposed in the Democratic primary.
"Bob Torricelli is a tough and proven leader with a record of cutting taxes and making college tuition and health care more affordable for New Jersey's families. We're confident that once he joins the race, he will be the clear choice," said Juliet Johnson, spokeswoman for Torricelli.
Although Forrester has outspent Matheussen by $3 million to $100,000, he has failed to run away with the race, said Sean Kennedy, campaign manager for Matheussen.
Kennedy renewed a call for more candidate debates.
Allen, a state senator and former TV news anchor in the Philadelphia market, led Republicans by a wide margin in the eight South Jersey counties. In the region, she had 38 percent of the vote; Forrester 22 percent; and Matheussen 20 percent.
But Forrester led among Republicans in North and Central Jersey. In Central Jersey, he garnered 40 percent of the vote to 22 percent for Allen and 10 percent for Matheussen. In North Jersey, Forrester captured 38 percent, compared to 18 percent for Allen and 10 percent for Matheussen.
The poll was conducted May 18-20. For results among Republican candidates, 521 likely GOP registered voters were surveyed, with a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.
For the November matchups, 1,744 registered voters were surveyed, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Doesn't former Independent Counsel Robert Ray also have his hat in the ring?
Had less than the required 1,000 signatures on his petition.
He's thrown his support behind Forrester.
He doesn't deserve re-elaction, but he should get federal housing for the next 10 - 20 years.
This guy has done more to damage the Intelligence community then any one person in history. All in his first term to!
Not even Ted Kennedy has damaged the system more. This bozo needs to go.
Of course I'm keeping in mind the point that BC Johnson said the one time I met him -- the Republicans need to control the Senate to control the committee assignments. Even if a NJ Rino doesn't help in the votes, controlling the Senate will be helpful, so I'll probably wind up voting for whoever the Republicans put up. Sigh. I guess I'll have to make my protest vote in the primary -- again.
These numbers are consistent (even more favorable to GOP) with another Quinnipiac poll like this from mid April.
This is an apparent attempt to bend the truth, since his numbers did not go down at all, and in fact, increased a point or two in some polls.
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