Businessman and diplomat Phil Murphy has a two-to-one lead over Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno in the race to be the next governor of New Jersey, according to the new Quinnipiac Poll released Wednesday.
Murphy, the Democratic nominee, leads Guadagno 55 percent to 26 percent, the poll found. Guadagno polls well among fellow Republicans and runs close among white men, but Murphy blows her out in most every other demographic category.
Guadagno's biggest liability in the survey is her association with Gov. Chris Christie; 54 percent of voters said her service as his deputy gave them a negative impression of her. (The same poll found Christie's approval rating has sunk to 15 percent, the lowest for any governor in at least two decades.)
"Hobbled by eight years in a little noticed job and her ties to a remarkably unpopular governor, Lt. Gov. Guadagno is little-known and little-liked," Maurice Carroll, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said in a statement.
In contrast, Murphy is hurt to a degree by his more than 20 years at Goldman Sachs. One-third of voters say his time at the firm creates a negative impression of him.
The phone poll of 1,103 New Jersey voters was conducted June 7-12 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points.
