Lonegan Closing Gap on Booker in Latest Poll

In New Jersey’s race for United States Senator, the comfortable lead enjoyed by Newark Mayor Cory Booker is slipping.

Booker’s once-sizeable advantage over former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan now stands at 53 percent to 41 percent among likely voters, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll.

"Today's results could be driven by the bad news about Newark crime, plus the publicity about Booker's business ventures," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

While the race may not end in a Booker blow-out, it still looks like a comfortable lead for the Newark mayor, she added. 

“New Jersey is a blue state and it hasn't elected a Republican senator—let alone a conservative one—since Sen. Clifford Case in 1972,” Carroll said. 

According to the poll, 60 percent of women back Booker while men are divided: 48 percent for Lonegan and 46 percent for Booker. 

Independent voters are further divided, with 47 percent for Booker and 44 percent for Lonegan. Along party lines, Booker takes 91 percent of Dems and Lonegan takes 86 percent of GOP voters surveyed. 

From Sept. 19 to Sept. 22, Quinnipiac University interviewers called the land lines and cell phones of 948 likely voters in New Jersey. The university reported its margin of error of +/- 3.2 percentage points.