Clay Richards

Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani continue to hold substantial leads in the February 5 New Jersey presidential primaries, with a general election matchup between the two in a statistical dead heat, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.

Clinton leads Barack Obama 51%-17%, with John Edwards at 7%.  Giuliani has a 38%-12% lead over John McCain, with Mike Huckabee at 8%, Mitt Romney at 7%, and Fred Thompson at 4%. 

In a general election matchup, Clinton leads Giuliani 45%-44%. 

Gov. Jon Corzine's job approval ratings continue to go down and voters are split, 44%-43%, on whether he should be re-elected in 2009, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released this morning. Corzine has a 46%-43% approval rating, down from 49%-40% in September, and 48%-39% in July. Among New Jersey voters, 41% say they would vote for Corzine, and 31% say they would back an unnamed Republican candidate.

“Midway in his first term, voters are lukewarm about Gov. Jon Corzine and give his performance a mediocre rating. Most just think things have stayed about the same since he took over in Trenton,” said Clay Richards, the Assistant Director of the Quinnipiac polling institute.

Frank Lautenberg will be 84 when he seeks re-election to the U.S. Senate next year
While two recent independent polls show that a majority of New Jerseyans think Frank Lautenberg is too old to serve another full term in the U.S. Senate, so far there have been no Democrats willing to openly discuss a primary bid.

Add Tom Byrne to that list.