Poll: Booker leads Lautenberg by 21
Newark Mayor Cory Booker leads Sen. Frank Lautenberg by 21 points in a potential head-to-head match up, a Quinnipiac University poll said today.
Poll: Booker leads Lautenberg by 21
WASHINGTON -- Newark Mayor Cory Booker leads Sen. Frank Lautenberg by 21 points in a potential head-to-head match up, a Quinnipiac University poll said today.
The survey was released one day after Lautenberg suggested Booker, a fellow Democrat, deserved a "spanking" for the way he has openly maneuvered toward a New Jersey Senate seat that Lautenberg currently holds. Booker responded (maybe) obliquely on Twitter.
Lautenberg is up for re-election in 2014, but Booker is far more popular, the poll found. Voters give him a 54-16 approval rating, compared to 42-32 for Lautenberg.
With Lautenberg turning 89 today, 71 percent of voters said his age is a liability.
Lautenberg has not said if he will run for another term. Booker has strongly signaled that he will run but has not officially jumped into the race.
Separately, New Jersey's other Democratic Senator, Bob Menendez, had a 51-33 approval rating.
Quinnipiac surveyed 1,647 registered voters with a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points. The poll included 616 Democrats with a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Jonathan Tamari is the Inquirer’s correspondent in Washington, where he follows the Philadelphia area’s interests and representatives. Tamari comes to D.C. after two years as a beat writer reporting on the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL (where, a political source once told him, there are at least rules against hitting below the knees). He previously wrote about politics and government from Trenton, reporting on the characters and color of New Jersey state government.Jersey born and bred, Tamari now lives in the capital city, where he is looking for stories, places to run, soccer bars and good meals.
Reach him at jtamari@phillynews.com.
Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @JonathanTamari.
