Posted on 05/23/2002 7:27:53 AM PDT by Coop
Poll: NJ GOP Hopefuls Almost Unknown
TRENTON, N.J.- Less than two weeks before the primary, most New Jersey voters are unfamiliar with the Republican candidates vying to unseat incumbent Democrat Sen. Robert Torricelli.
A poll released Wednesday found that none of the candidates had more than 50 percent name recognition.
Diane Allen, Douglas Forrester and John Matheussen are competing in the June 4 primary for the chance to run in the November general election against Torricelli, whose first term has been shadowed by a federal probe into illegal contributions to his 1996 campaign.
The Fairleigh Dickinson-Public Mind poll found that 55 percent of voters had not heard of Allen, 62 percent hadn't heard of Matheussen, and 54 percent hadn't heard of Forrester.
The survey also found that only 35 percent of voters thought Torricelli deserved re-election.
The telephone poll of 746 registered voters was conducted May 15-20 and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Allen is a state senator and former Philadelphia television news anchor, Forrester is a businessman, and Matheussen is a state senator.
Ousting Torricelli would be a huge victory for state Republicans and the national GOP, which is seeking to retake control of the U.S. Senate, where Democrats have a one-seat majority.
The criminal investigation into Torricelli's dealings with a campaign contributor ended in January with no charges filed, but the Senate ethics committee has taken up the probe.
Well, this 35% is actually an improvement over the previous two polls I saw from Feb and Mar showing only 20% and 28%, respectively, wanted to re-elect the Torch. He's got a ton of money, but his numbers stink. He didn't break 48% against any of these three "unknowns" in WABC-TV's early May 02 poll.
I'm very interested to see where the numbers fall when the GOP primary is over and the victor has some name recognition. NJ FReepers, pay attention! :-)
I still consider Torricelli the favorite, but...
Waste a vote? If I lived in New Jersey I'd be using my vote to hopefully help confirm conservative judges. But that's just me.
BTW, by all accounts I've heard Matheussen is a conservative, Forrester is a rich businessman I don't know much about, and Allen is the RINO. So why not exercise your vote to ensure the known RINO doesn't win the primary?
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