Polls Show Dead Heat in 2018 Menendez-Hugin New Jersey Senate Race

BLUE WAVE? DEMOCRATS ARE IN DEAD HEAT RACE IN NEW JERSEY …

As reported at the Politico, Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Menendez is in a dead heat with Republican challenger Bob Hugin. Menendez leads 45 percent to Hugin’s 43 percent. That seems almost too unbelievable to be true. However, many polls at RCP show the race really is tight and within the margin of error. The MSM is focusing on states like Texas and Tennessee where they think/hope/wish Democrats will pick up red state senate seats. However, they might want to take a look at states that the Dems thought were safe. A Bob Hugin victory would be the shock of the 2018 midterm elections.

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez is in a dead heat with Republican challenger Bob Hugin, according to a Stockton University poll released Monday, as the public’s negative view of the senator’s recent corruption trial weighs down his support.

The poll of 531 likely voters shows Menendez with 45 percent support to Hugin’s 43 percent — a difference well within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Menendez, who survived a six-week corruption trial late last year when the jury deadlocked, would normally skate to reelection given President Donald Trump’s deep unpopularity in New Jersey and the state’s normal Democratic tilt. New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1972.

But Hugin, a recently retired pharmaceutical executive with a vast personal fortune, has poured millions of dollars from his own pocket into the race. He spent much of the summer running TV ads attacking Menendez over his ethics record, and the Senate Ethics Committee’s severe admonishment of him.

Roughly 59 percent of voters say the corruption charges against Menendez are an “extremely important” or “significant” factor in their vote, according to the poll. But 51 percent say the same about the way Hugin profited off his company’s cancer drug.

Menendez is viewed favorably by just 30 percent of voters and unfavorably by 54 percent. Hugin, by contrast, is viewed favorably by 34 percent and unfavorably by 21 percent, but a plurality — 43 percent — aren’t familiar with him.