More New Jersey voters like Republican Bob Hugin, but they’re willing to hold their noses and vote for Sen. Robert Menendez, according to a new Quinnipiac University Poll.
Mr. Menendez, who escaped criminal conviction on corruption charges thanks to a hung jury, is deeply disliked, with just 36 percent of voters holding a favorable opinion of him, compared to 52 percent who see him negatively. That’s a net-minus of 16 percentage points.
Mr. Hugin, by contrast, is in positive territory, 39 percent positive to 30 percent negative.
Yet Quinnipiac found Mr. Menendez, a Democrat, up 51 percent to 44 percent in a head-to-head match-up.
That’s closer than Quinnipiac’s poll two weeks ago, which had Mr. Menendez up 11 points, and suggests the race could be a sleeper.
“The question for Bob Hugin is: can he win over those voters who say they are undecided or are backing Menendez and indicate they may change their mind?” said Mary Snow, a polling analyst for Quinnipiac. “It will come down to how he defines himself in these last few weeks before Election Day as nearly 30 percent of voters say they haven’t heard enough about him to form an opinion of him.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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