Stockton Polling Institute: Second District Opinion Remains Virtually Unchanged

Voters in the Second Congressional District have essentially the same opinion they did a month ago, according to the Stockton Polling Institute’s latest poll, released Thursday, Oct. 25 by the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

The poll of 609 likely voters in the district, which took place from Oct. 20-24, shows Congressman Frank LoBiondo leads Democratic challenger Cassandra Shober by a margin of 54-34 percent. The institute’s initial poll, released last month, showed LoBiondo ahead by a similar 55-34 percent margin.

Senator Robert Menendez’s lead over Republican challenger Joseph Kyrillos remained exactly the same as it did a month ago, 56-33 percent.

“The Senate and the Congressional races show remarkable stability over the course of a month with Senator Menendez and Congressman LoBiondo holding on to the same leads they had in the previous Stockton Polling Institute poll,” William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy Director Daniel J. Douglas said.

LoBiondo scored a 64 percent favorability rating among those polled, while 18 percent found him unfavorable and 18 percent were unsure or unfamiliar with him. In the previous poll, he had 62 percent favorability rating and a 19 percent unfavorable rating.

Shober’s recognition escalated over the past month, with 49 percent showing an opinion for the Democrat. A month ago, only 44 percent recognized her. Her favorability rating was up to 32 percent from 31 a month ago, but those with an unfavorable opinion of her were at 17 percent, as opposed to 13 percent a month ago.

LoBiondo’s job performance was at 56 percent excellent and 35 percent fair or poor. Previously, his job performance was 57 percent excellent and 36 percent fair or poor.

Congress saw a slight increase in public perception for the job it’s doing, up 18 percent from 14 percent. Its disapproval rating went down to 81 percent from 84 percent.

Likely voters also judged the job Gov. Chris Christie is doing by a similar margin from the previous poll, with 48 percent rating his job performance as good or excellent, and 51 percent rating it fair or poor. The previous margin was 47-51.

His favorability rating remained steady at 51 percent very or somewhat favorable in both the first and most recent polls. In the most recent poll, 44 percent ruled him very or somewhat unfavorable, down from 46 percent previously.

The only significant difference came in the presidential race, where President Barack Obama held a 52-39 percent edge over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Previously, Obama held a 57-35 percent lead over Romney.

The poll was conducted via both cell phone and landline, and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent, the college said. Those conducting the polls called from the Stockton College campus, the college said. All households on the source calling list have the same opportunity of being called because of the random digital dialing system (RDD).

Data were weighted based on United States Census demographic data.

The second congressional district consists of Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Salem and parts of Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties.