Posted on 07/29/2002 11:00:25 AM PDT by Dales
Jul 23, 2002 10:17 pm US/Eastern
(KYW)-(Trenton)-The latest exclusive Eyewitness News Survey USA Poll of the New Jersey senate race shows a real deadlock between incumbent Senator Robert Torricelli and Republican challenger Douglas Forrester.
The poll shows each candidate with 43 percent of the vote, with the rest undecided or planning to vote for other candidates. The margin of error in this poll was plus or minus 3.9 percent.
Eyewitness News Anchor Larry Kane says the survey of 661 likely voters is an early indication of what could be a very close and expensive race. But Kane says Torricelli, hurt by an ethics investigation, is still the incumbent and will have a large war chest for November. Remember, the Democrats hold a slim majority in the U.S. Senate, and a loss of one or two seats can change that in a flash.
Kane says Forrester's challenge is to match master-fundraiser Torricelli dollar-for-dollar.
Torricelli's refusal to answer disturbing questions leads NJ voters to abandon him(HAMILTON, JULY 24) - Forrester for Senate campaign manager Bill Pascoe - responding to the release of a new SurveyUSA poll commissioned by KYW-TV in Philadelphia, which shows the Forrester-Torricelli race for New Jersey's U.S. Senate seat deadlocked at 43-43 percent - today issued the following statement:
"Great news for the Garden State - a new public poll shows the race between Doug Forrester and Robert Torricelli to be dead even, deadlocked at 43-43 percent. That represents a five-point swing to Doug since the last time SurveyUSA was in the field with a New Jersey general election survey, and it marks the fifth straight general election poll showing that Mr. Torricelli cannot break even the 45 percent threshold, despite being a 20-year career Member of Congress running against a candidate who has yet to begin his general election advertising.
"According to the SurveyUSA poll, Doug is doing better among key subgroups than Torricelli. Doug scores better among Republicans (leading by 80-11 percent) than Torricelli does among Democrats (which he leads by just 75-10 percent), and Doug is winning the Independents by a seven-point margin, 42-35 percent. Further, Torricelli scores well among the 18-34 year olds who tend to vote in lower numbers, while Doug leads among the 35-54 year olds who tend to vote in higher numbers.
"Clearly, Mr. Torricelli's silence is hurting him. He has failed to properly answer - to the satisfaction of New Jersey voters - the many questions surrounding him. He has failed to make public his sworn testimony before the Senate Ethics Committee; he has failed to make public a transcript of his interview with the FBI; he has failed to disclose what items the FBI confiscated from him when federal agents searched his home; he has even failed to take the lie detector test his former colleague, Democratic U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, says he should take.
"Conversely, the more people get to know Doug Forrester, the more they like him. What is truly stunning about this survey is the fact that Doug has continued to move up in the polls despite the fact that we have yet to begin our general election advertising.
"Don't be fooled by spin coming from the other side regarding the accuracy of this survey. Any reputable pollster will tell you that automated polls such as this one favor incumbents over challengers, for the simple reason that incumbents have higher name identification, and the default position is to support the guy whose name you recognize over the guy whose name you don't. The fact that this survey shows the race to be deadlocked is, therefore, a true warning shot across the bow of the Torricelli campaign."
The poll shows each candidate with 43 percent of the vote…
I’m no mathematician, but I’m thinking that adds up to 86% of the vote, meaning that once again a critical election will be decided by the 14% of the voting public that is too stupid to even know the candidates or issues.
If the NJ GOP wasn’t such a bunch of inept lardasses, they really wouldn’t have too hard a time convincing a majority of the knuckleheaded undecideds that Torricelli is a criminal and an embarrassment to the state.
What NJ politician isn't a self-dealing scuzzball?Bret Schundler.
Wonder what the results would be today?
So the relative unknown who is currently tied in the polls with a powerful incumbent doesn't have a prayer unless he follows your advice? Noted.
Bingo. And just think of the bad press should a miracle occur and Chang be called to testify before the Senate Ethics Committee. (Gee, do you think this weekend's NY Times article on the Chang evidence was a coincidence? ) :-p
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