N J Governor Election Approaching

NEWARK, N.J.: Democrat Jim McGreevey still holds a double-digit lead over Republican Bret Schundler for the governor's race, according to a Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers Poll.

McGreevey led Schundler 45 percent to 33 percent, or 12 points, among likely voters in the poll released Sunday. Twenty-two percent were still undecided, and each candidate picked up five points when undecided voters were asked which way they leaned.

Schundler has picked up some support since a poll taken about two weeks after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. In that poll he trailed McGreevey 46 to 31 percent.

The poll also indicated voters have lost interest in the Nov. 6 gubernatorial election. Nine percent of those polled said they were watching the race "very closely" – a drop from 17 percent three weeks earlier.

Between 20 to 25 percent of likely voters are usually following campaigns at this point, said Cliff Zukin, the poll's director.

Also, only 14 percent of likely voters reported watching the first televised gubernatorial debate on Oct. 10. That's less than half the number that watched debates at similar times during the 1989 and 1993 races. Monika McDermott, the poll's associate director, said the governor's race has been overshadowed by the battle in Afghanistan. Schundler's campaign manager, Bill Pascoe, said the race was still "wide open," and that almost a quarter of the voters still had no opinion of McGreevey.

The spokesman for McGreevey's campaign, Richard McGrath, said poll results show McGreevey is a "mainstream" candidate, picking up support from women (50-28) and independent voters (46-28) percent.

When asked about races for the Assembly, 39 percent of poll respondents said whey would vote Democrat if the election were held today, and 38 percent said they would vote Republican.

Forty-four percent said they like the direction the state is headed – but half said they did not like the direction and wanted a change.

The poll surveyed 454 adult residents of New Jersey from Oct. 13 to 17. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

New Jersey and Virginia are the only states with governors' elections this year. Both have a Republican governor who is not running for re-election and Democratic candidates who are leading in the polls.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: 6 - ABC, Action News