A record-number of New Jerseyans don't like what their governor is doing, according to a new poll.
The worst part for Gov. Jon Corzine is that voter disapproval could hurt him at the polls this fall.
Voter disgust over the faltering economy could upend the Democratic incumbent's re-election effort, a Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday suggested.
The poll results don't bode well for Corzine. He doesn't deserve to be re-elected according to 55 percent of those polled.
Corzine can't be happy that 54 percent disapprove of the incumbent governor's job performance, compared to 37 percent who approve. That's the worst showing in 13 years of New Jersey polling by Quinnipiac.
But, the economic results could bode even worse for Corzine.
The dismal economy made Corzine vulnerable to a re-election challenge, said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Only a third of voters polled approve of the way Corzine, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, has handled the economy while nearly 60 percent disapprove, according to the poll.
"The economy is killing Corzine's approval rating in New Jersey so much that he is vulnerable not only to a strong challenger such as Chris Christie but a lesser-known Republican such as Steve Lonegan," Richards said.
If the election were held today Corzine would be in trouble. He trailed Christie, the former U.S. attorney and Republican front-runner, 45 percent to 38 percent, according to the poll. Corzine and conservative Lonegan are deadlocked at 41 percent.
Christie led Corzine by nine percentage points in a March 12 Quinnipiac poll.
The poll of 2,222 New Jersey registered voters was taken April 14 to 20. It has a sampling error margin of plus-or-minus 2.1 percentage points.
