New Jersey voters favor President Obama and Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez by double-digit margins in their bids for reelection this fall, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The poll by Quinnipiac University showed that 49 percent of Garden State voters would support the president in an election held today, while just 38 percent would vote for presumptive Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
Mr. Obama’s 11-point lead is an improvement on the nine- and 10-point margins he has held in five Quinnipiac polls from November 2011 to May of this year.
Most analysts have predicted New Jersey will go Democratic in the election and Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said the most recent poll removes any doubt.
“Scratch New Jersey off any swing state lists,” he said.
The poll also showed Democrats are sitting pretty in the state’s U.S. Senate race, with Mr. Menendez enjoying a 47-34 lead over Republican challenger and state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos — an improvement on the 10-point lead he had in a May poll by the university.
Quinnipiac pollsters said that Mr. Obama is benefiting greatly from support by women and young voters in the state, and that Mr. Menendez is much better known than his opponent.
