Droves of independents are once again powering the Democratic candidates for federal office to growing leads in New Jersey, according to results from the latest Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll.
President Barack Obama leads Republican nominee Mitt Romney by 15 percentage points among likely voters, 52-37, compared with an 8-point edge in the Monmouth/APP survey conducted in July. A similar shift in the U.S. Senate race has pushed incumbent Robert Menendez to a 49-34 advantage over Republican challenger Joseph Kyrillos Jr.
“We definitely usually see that by late September in New Jersey,” said Patrick Murray, the Monmouth University Polling Institute director. “But I think there was an expectation that it wouldn’t widen out so much here in New Jersey, just simply because the economy wasn’t rebounding enough and we weren’t going to see anywhere near the kind of numbers Obama was able to pull in four years ago.”
Independents now back Obama by 50 percent to 30 percent, up from a narrow 44 percent to 42 percent two months ago.
The Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll was conducted between Sept. 19 and 23 with a statewide random sample of 715 registered voters, yielding a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, including 613 likely voters.
http://www.app.com/article/20120925/NJNEWS/309250015/Poll-Obama-leads-by-double-digits-N-J
