Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., trails Tom Malinowski, his Democratic challenger in the 7th Congressional District, by 8 percentage points, according to a new poll.
The New York Times poll shows Lance with 39 percent of the vote and Malinowski, a former Obama-era State Department official, with 47 percent. Both figures come with a 4.6 percentage point margin of error. Twelve percent of respondents remain undecided.
The poll is especially foreboding for Lance, who is serving his fifth term, as it comes just days before the Nov. 6 midterm elections. It shows the largest gap between the two in the three polls listed in RealClearPolitics’ tracker.
Lance, a moderate who resides in a state that “leans Dem” according to RCP, has attempted to distance himself from President Trump, claiming his tone differs from the president’s. He voted against both the Republican tax bill and the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Malinowski has harshly criticized Trump’s relationship with Russia, as well as Lance’s ties to the Koch brothers. Malinowski is out-fundraising Lance.
Other polling organizations such as Cook Political Report and Inside Elections consider the race a tossup. FiveThirtyEight predicts it’s likely the Democratic challenger will win.
In addressing one possible source of error in their poll, conducted Oct. 28-31, the New York Times states it talked to 503 people in the district by phone (after making 22,095 calls), and the outcome could easily be different had it sampled more participants.
