NJ: "Tight Race" Not So Tight, Christie Pulling Ahead As Independents Are "Unhappy" With Gov. Corzine's Job Performance

Many predicted that the New Jersey governor's race would be the closest race of all this year. Corzine evened the numbers in some polls and pulled ahead in others, over the past month. Yesterday, the polls started showing that Christie pulling ahead:

The final Public Policy Polling survey in New Jersey finds Chris Christie (R) pulling ahead of Gov. Jon Corzine (D), 47% to 41%, with independent Chris Daggett at 11%.

Three weeks ago, Christie led by just one point but Corzine's momentum has stalled in the last two surveys.

Analysis: "Christie's advantage is due largely to his support from independents and because he has Republicans more unified around him than the Democrats are around Corzine. Christie leads Corzine 52-29 with indies, as Daggett's support with that group has declined to 16%. Christie is getting 82% of Republicans to Corzine's 72% of Democrats."

Why the sudden support for Christie at the end? Why are independents and former Daggett supporters flocking to the Republican challenger? Apparently, as Election Day looms ahead of us, they have been getting nervous about the chances that Corzine could get re-elected:

“Independent voters are simply unhappy with the job Governor Corzine has done over the past four years. After a brief flirtation with Daggett’s candidacy, many seem to have returned to Christie as their best chance for change,” said (Patrick) Murray(director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute).

That isn't surprising considering that Corzine's apporval are a horrible overall, 35% approve to 55% disapprove, and an abysmal 21% to 69% among Democrats.

New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine (D) Is Not Shy About Showing His Obama Love

Democratic New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine introduced "The One" today and didn't hold back showing his man crush to the whole world:

Introduced by Corzine as "our greatest president in this 21st century," Obama stuck up for the embattled Democratic governor, saying Corzine had been "tested by the worst recession in half a century"

That is a bit misleading considering that there has been only two presidents so far this century, and Obama, himself, has only been in office for six months. So, there isn't much of a track record to compare to Bush accurately.

This is a bit risky for Corzine because he is in a tight battle with the Republican Christopher Christie. In fact, Christie has been leading most of the polls recently even though New Jersey is generally heavily Democratic and virtually unwinnable for the GOP in statewide elections. Obama's personal popularity is still high, but his job approval numbers have plummeted and policy approval ratings have mostly tanked as well. So, Obama it could end up hurting in the long run, if Obama's numbers continues to drop like a stone like they have over the last few weeks.