Poll shows close U.S. Senate race in N.J. with Menendez on the ballot – New Jersey Globe

There’s a new poll in the New Jersey Senate race that puts Republican Curtis Bashaw in striking distance of winning a three-way contest against Democrat Andy Kim and independent Bob Menendez, the incumbent.

The poll has Kim leading Bashaw by six points, 39%-33%, with 3% for Menendez and 25% of likely New Jersey voters still undecided.

Kim’s lead expanded to 41%-24% in a head-to-head poll against Menendez, a three-term U.S. Senator who is currently on trial on federal corruption charges.

Six in ten Hispanics view Menendez unfavorably; Kim has a 32%-26% lead among Hispanic likely voters, with Menendez at just 3%.

The poll was conducted by co/efficient, a newish, little-known independent survey firm in Kansas City with a one-star in 538’s pollster ratings.   The pollster, Ryan Munce, appears to be Republican- leaning.

The same poll shows Donald Trump and Joe Biden in a statistical dead heat in New Jersey; Trump leads, 41%-40%, with 7% for independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and other third-party contenders.

Neither of the Senate candidates is especially well-known: Kim has favorables of 30%-20%, while Bashaw is at 13%-14%; 50% of voters have never heard of Kim, a three-term congressman and former Obama White House staffer, and 73% don’t know who Bashaw is.

Menendez’s favorables are at 4%-71%.   The co/efficient poll also has Gov. Phil Murphy with upside-down favorables of 36%-24%   Favorables for Trump (45%-50%) and Biden (36%-56%) are both underwater.

Trump’s favorables among Republicans is at 88%, although that didn’t stop the state party from re-electing fervently anti-Trump candidate Bill Palatucci, a close ally of former Gov. Chris Christie, for Republican National Committeeman on Thursday.

A generic ballot test in the U.S. Senate race has Democrats with a 12-point lead, 46%-34%.

The co/efficient poll was conducted on June 26-27 using mobile text responses and landline interviews, and a sample size of 810 likely general election voters and a +/- 3.4% margin of error.