New Jersey senator Cory Booker, a Democrat, leads his Republican challenger Jeff Bell by just nine points in a new poll from the Stockton Polling Institute. The survey of likely voters found 48 percent supporting Booker and 39 percent supporting Bell. The results show the race tightening from the previous Stockton poll in September, which had Booker leading Bell by 13 points.
Bell remains a long-shot candidate in the deeply Democratic state, though one independent expenditure group supporting the Republican has invested in a TV ad attacking Booker. The conservative American Principles Fund claims the former mayor of Newark has used his political power “to enrich himself.” The ad prompted the Booker campaign to respond to the allegations.
Booker still has a double-digit lead according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls, but the boss has argued the race is much closer than that among voters committed to their candidate.
