Wednesday, September 17, 2008

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New Jersey voters aren’t likely to see a lot of the Presidential candidates between now and Election Day. In fact, Barack Obama’s lead over John McCain is significant enough that Garden State voters may be even be spared the need to endure too many Presidential campaign commercials this year.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in New Jersey finds Obama attracting 55% of the vote while McCain earns just 42%. That’s a slightly bigger cushion than he enjoyed a month ago.

Both presidential candidates are viewed favorably by Garden State voters—60% have a favorable opinion of Obama while 58% say the same about McCain.

As for the running mates, 60% have a favorable opinion of Delaware Senator Joe Biden while 44% say the same about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Forty-two percent (42%) say that Obama made the right choice with Biden while an identical percentage say McCain made the right choice with Palin. A larger number (46%) said that McCain made the wrong choice while only 34% said that of Obama.

Nationally, the race between Obama and McCain remains very close in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

Fifty percent (50%) of New Jersey voters say that the economy is the top voting issue of Election 2008. Nineteen percent (19%) say national security is the highest priority.

Rasmussen Markets data gives Obama an % chance of winning New Jersey’s 15 electoral votes this November. George H.W. Bush in 1988 was the last Republican presidential candidate to carry New Jersey where no Republican has won a statewide office since 1997. John Kerry carried New Jersey over President Bush -- 53% to 46% -- in 2004.

Just 26% now say that President Bush is doing a good or an excellent job while 56% rate his job performance as poor.

New Jersey remains ranked as 'Likely Democratic' in the Rasmussen Reports Balance of Power Calculator. NOTE: Factors other than the latest Rasmussen Reports poll impact the Balance of Power ratings. The current status is indicated on the table in the upper right hand corner of this article.

The survey was conducted in partnership with Fox Television Stations, Inc.

Rasmussen Reports has released polls on the presidential race this week for Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Wisconsin, Utah and Delaware. Additional state poll results will be released at RasmussenReports.com each Monday at 6:00 p.m. Eastern and Tuesday-Friday at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll is released each morning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. Other polling is released at 7:00 a.m., Noon, and 3:00 p.m. Eastern weekdays along with other updates as needed. Premium Members can review full demographic crosstabs for all state polls and get the first look at all Rasmussen Reports polling data. Learn More.

See survey questions and toplines. Crosstabs are available to Premium Members only.