Oh, what a difference just a couple of months can make in politics. When we wrote about this race in late July, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine was trailing his GOP opponent, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie by as much as 15 points. Today, the race is dead even, and the outcome could well be decided by the percentage of the vote independent candidate Chris Daggett can attract.
It’s not so much that Corzine has staged a remarkable come back. In fact, polling indicates that his movement has been minimal, but he has successfully made Christie as unpopular as he is. Voters’ problems with Corzine are well documented. The state’s economy is suffering – unemployment was 9.8 percent in September – and voters don’t believe that the Governor has done much to change it. According to the Tax Foundation, the state has the highest property taxes in the nation and while Corzine has promised relief, it hasn’t materialized. Finally, Corzine often comes across as aloof and a majority of voters don’t think that he understands the problems of average citizens, something
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.