TRENTON, N.J., June 10 (UPI) -- A poll Monday suggests New Jersey's two most popular political figures, Gov. Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker, are cruising toward election wins.
Christie is up for re-election and Booker is running in a special election to replace the late U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who had announced his retirement prior to his death last week.
Fifty-seven percent of Garden State voters hold a favorable opinion of Booker while just 14 percent hold an unfavorable opinion, a Quinnipiac poll found Monday. He enjoys wide name recognition in the state, with only 1 in 4 respondents saying they didn't have enough information to form an opinion of Booker.
He is the preferred standard-bearer by 53 percent the Democratic primary electorate and his next closest rival, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, has 10 percent support ahead of the Aug. 13 primary. He enjoys similar large leads over two of his potential Republican challengers in the general election, the poll suggests.
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The special election to to fill out the last year of Lautenberg's term will be Oct. 16.
As for Christie, the popular first-term governor and potential 2016 presidential candidate is cruising toward a second term. The same poll found Christie with a 59 percent to 29 percent lead over his opponent, Democratic State Sen. Barbara Buono.
Nearly seven in 10 respondents approved of Christie's job performance in the survey.
Christie will be on the Nov. 5 general election ballot seeking another four-year term.
The survey, conducted June 7-9, polled 858 registered New Jersey voters on both land lines and cellphones. The poll has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
