Mike Testa Jr. – one of the NJGOP’s most conservative legislators – is up by 13-points in his first bid for reelection according to a new Stockton University poll released Wednesday.
State Senator Testa is reportedly ahead of his Democrat challenger by a whopping 13-points. We always take Stockton polls with a grain of salt. Stockton predicted a 14-point Testa LOSS in 2019 before the Vineland attorney went on to win by 7-points, making the seat red for the first time since January 2008 when then-Democrat Jeff Van Drew emerged victorious. Testa’s incumbent Assembly running mates are also leading their Democrat opponents in the Republican-leaning and sprawling South Jersey district that includes many of the state’s iconic Jersey Shore resorts like Ocean City and Wildwood.
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Meanwhile, in the same district, Phil Murphy allegedly trails Jack Ciattarelli by 2-points (46% to 44%) which is inside of the poll’s margin of error.
That’s not great news for Ciattarelli with just three weeks left to go (assuming, of course, that the poll is accurate); to win statewide, he wouldn’t necessarily need to carry LD1 by 13-points but he would need to lead Murphy by a much more solid margin than a couple of points to compensate for losses in populous blue North Jersey counties.
You can examine the polling report for yourself here.
FYI: The survey was conducted over a broad span of time – September 28th to October 10th – prior to the second debate.
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