New Jersey Democrats were inarguably cheered Wednesday by the results of the latest Quinnipiac poll showing Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez leading by seven percentage points in his hotly-contested bid for re-election.
Menendez, found not guilty after a lengthy trial on corruption charges, leads Republican Bob Hugin by 51 to 44 percent among likely voters, according to Quinnipiac. Five percent were undecided. The margin of error was +/-4.3 percent points.
Quinnipiac also found that women’s support for Menendez over Hugin has shot up 56-to-38 percent and, among non-white minorities, the senator leads by 63-to-28 percent. Some conclude these figures are due to the controversy surrounding Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
But the same survey showed the senator with a whopping 36-52 favorable-unfavorable rating. In contrast, first-time candidate Hugin, a former biopharmaceuticals company president and onetime U.S. Marine, has a 39-30 percent favorable-unfavorable rating, with 28 percent saying they didn’t know enough about him to have an opinion.
“Democrats aren’t pulling away in 2018 in much of anywhere, but they might be in New Jersey,” former State GOP Chairman David Norcross told Newsmax, “That’s primarily because of history — we have not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972.”
But Norcross added that this might change “if Democrats grow unenthusiastic about their candidate — as they should be. If the Democratic turnout is low and independents are furious about Menendez’s ethics, Bob Hugin can win.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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