Politics & Government

Booker Leads Lonegan in Rutgers-Eagleton Poll Following Debates

Lonegan is seen as too conservative by most respondents in the Rutgers-Eagleton poll.

With about 48 hours to go before the special election to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat, Democratic candidate Cory Booker holds a 22-point lead over Republican candidate Steve Lonegan in the Rutgers-Eagleton poll, released on Monday.

Newark Mayor Booker holds a 58-36 lead over Lonegan among 513 likely voters from Oct. 7-13. Three percent said they prefer someone else and another 3 percent were still undecided.

One debate was held in Trenton prior to the start of this survey, and a second debate at Rowan University fell in the middle of this period.

According to pollsters, 43 percent of likely voters paid some attention to these debates. Independents who watched the debates favored Booker, 59-37, but independents who didn’t watch them favored Lonegan, 45-42.

Booker has 96 percent support among Democrats, and 16 percent among Republicans. At the same time, 74 percent of Republicans favor Lonegan, and 2 percent of Democrats support him.

Only 36 percent of Republicans watched the debates, compared to 49 percent of Democrats and 43 percent of independents.

Recent polls showed Lonegan had cut into Booker’s lead. Prior to the debate at Rowan University on Oct. 9, Booker held leads of 12, 13 and 16 points in various polls.

In September, Booker held a 35-point lead over Lonegan in a Rutgers-Eagleton poll.

The voters included in this poll are part of a sample of 798 registered voters polled statewide using cell phones and landlines. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.

Booker and Lonegan, the former Mayor of Bogota, are running for the seat left vacant with the death of Frank Lautenberg over the summer. Gov. Christie announced the special election in July for Oct. 16, leading some analysts to predict there would be low voter turnout.

However, according to the most recent poll, more than 50 percent of registered voters are aware the election exists, and 45 percent know what date it will be held.

A little more than half of those who responded are following the election closely, and more than 60 percent claim they will vote on Wednesday.

Booker maintains a positive rating among 54 percent of those polled, down nine points from a Rutgers-Eagleton poll conducted in September, while his unfavorability rating has climbed to 32 percent.

Lonegan’s favorability rating is up to 30 points, but his unfavorability rating is also up, to 34 points. More than one-third of those polled have no opinion of Lonegan.

One-third of those polled believe Booker is little more than a “self-promoter,” and 44 percent believe he is too liberal for New Jersey.

Lonegan is seen as too conservative by 60 percent of respondents.


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