christiebuono.JPG
Gov. Chris Christie greets his Democratic opponent, state. Sen. Barbara Buono, during a joint appearance at a dinner this week in West Windsor.
(Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger )
A new poll released today shows Gov. Chris Christie with a 40 percentage point lead over his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Barbara Buono, the Press of Atlantic City reports.
According to the poll conducted by the Stockton Polling Institute, Christie has the support of 64 percent of those intending to vote, while Buono receives slightly more than 24 percent. Ten percent of those polled say they're not sure who they're voting for or are voting for someone else.
Christie's appearances with President Obama as well as his handling of the Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts have helped his standing among voters, the poll found.
According to the poll, 26 percent said they were more likely to vote for Christie because of those things; 3 percent said they were less likely and 71 percent said it made no difference or were unsure.
For her part, Buono suffers from both low name recognition and upside-down favorability ratings, the poll found. More than half of those surveyed had no opinion of Buono, a state senator from Middlesex County. Of those who are familiar with her, 24 percent had an unfavorable opinion of her and 21 percent viewed her favorably.
The poll, conducted with 741 likely voters from June 8-13, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
The Stockton Polling Institute is part of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
RELATED COVERAGE
• In first meeting of general election, Christie and Buono address business group
• Christie, Buono sail in N.J. primaries, headed for fight in general election