TRENTON — A new poll shows President Obama leading his re-election race against all Republican challengers including New Gov. Chris Christie, who insists he isn't going to run.

The Fairleigh Dickinson-PublicMind national poll released today finds the Jersey guy governor pulling in 34 percent of the vote, compared to 50 percent for the president in a head-to-head matchup. That's a back slide from March, when Christie trailed 40 percent to 46 percent.

The poll finds that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney stacks up best among the potential GOP field. But he, too, trails Obama, 39 percent to 45 percent.

April 12, 2012 - Obama Tops Romney-Christie In New Jersey, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Mendendez Has 9-Point Lead Over Little Known Opponent

President Barack Obama leads former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 49 - 40 percent in the New Jersey presidential race, a lead that shrinks to 49 - 42 percent if Gov. Christopher Christie runs as Romney's vice presidential pick, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

There is a large gender gap with or without Gov. Christie on the ticket. Men would vote for a Romney-Christie ticket 50 - 42 percent, while women would vote for President Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden 55 - 35 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Independent voters split 42 - 42 percent.

White voters back the Republican ticket 52 - 39 percent, while black voters go Democratic 89 - 6 percent.

"It's pretty much all over but the shouting in the Republican presidential primaries, but if Gov. Mitt Romney owns New Jersey in June, President Barack Obama takes command in November. This still looks like a reliably blue state," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Clinton-backed candidate wins primary in N.J.

Rep. William J. Pascrell (D-N.J.) trounced his onetime friend, Rep. Steve Rothman (D), in a closely watched incumbent-versus-incumbent primary Tuesday. The race pitted former president Bill Clinton, who endorsed Pascrell and stumped for the eight-term incumbent Friday, against President Obama, who openly supported Rothman.


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TPM2012
‘Kosher Sex’ Celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach Wins NJ-9 GOP Primary

Benjy Sarlin June 5, 2012, 10:59 PM 4140

Rabbi. Celebrity confidant. Sex therapist. Voters in New Jersey’s 9th Congressional District will have a chance to elect a representative with all those qualifications and more after Shmuley Boteach won the Republican primary Tuesday night.

Boteach is known for his role as “spiritual adviser” to the late superstar Michael Jackson. The Hasidic rabbi recorded a series of conversations with the King of Pop that he published after his death as a book, “The Michael Jackson Tapes: A Tragic Icon Reveals His Soul In Intimate Conversation.” He has been a frequent fixture on daytime and reality TV, hosting a radio show on Oprah Winfrey’s network and a TLC show, “Shalom In The Home.”

As an author, however, it’s hardly his only notable release. He also put out a series of Judaic sex advice books, with titles like Kosher Sex, The Kosher Sutra, and Kosher Adultery: Seduce and Sin With Your Spouse. One of his causes behind his campaign is a desire to spice up the Republican party’s puritanical reputation with some wholesome family sex.

“We don’t believe that sex is for procreation,” Boteach told The Daily Beast in an interview. “We love children—I have nine kids. And yet we believe in great sex, passionate sex, electrifying sex. Sex is for intimacy, and the Bible makes that absolutely clear.”

N.J. poll: Obama ahead by 15 points

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.