NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Recent polling shows Democrat Mikie Sherrill has a lead over Republican Jack Ciattarelli in the race for New Jersey governor, but that advantage is in the single digits with a lot of undecided voters.
As the summer winds down, expect the election advertisements to begin heating up. Micah Rasmussen from Rider University says the candidates have been busy trying to raise money for a big push to get their messages out.
The big question, Rasmussen asks, “Can either of these candidates win over Independents?”
Right now, it appears the candidates are splitting the Independent or unaffiliated vote about 50/50.
“And that’s not good enough for Jack Ciattarelli. He needs more than that,” Rasmussen said.
Current polling shows Sherrill with about a nine-point lead over Ciattarelli among likely voters. In a state with significantly more registered Democrats than Republicans, Rasmussen says Ciattarelli needs to make up some ground, while Sherrill hopes to pull away, as she did in the primary.
“At the same time that game is going on, the persuasion game, they are also trying to motivate their bases. They’re trying to do what they can to make sure that they get out the party faithful, the people that they know of, they come out that they’ll vote their way.”
Rasmussen says taxes, energy prices and general affordability are likely to be key issues in the next two months, so brace for the impending advertisement blitz.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 4.