Jack Ciattarelli leads GOP race for governor, Democratic race a toss-up, poll says

Less than seven weeks to go before June’s primary elections, former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli is leading the crowded race to become New Jersey’s next governor on the Republican side, while Democratic voters remain divided on who they’ll pick to represent their party on November’s ballot, according to a new Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.

Five Republicans and six Democrats are angling to replace Gov. Phil Murphy, a term-limited Democrat.

“We currently have a tale of two primaries,” said Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University. “On the Republican side, a leading candidate is coming into focus, while on the Democratic side, there is no clear frontrunner, given that most of the Democratic candidates are within striking distance of one another.”

Scores of voters still have no idea who the candidates are and a third of voters on each side remain undecided even though the candidates have raised millions to campaign, according to the poll released Friday.

On the GOP side, 42% of registered Republicans and Republican-leaning independents surveyed said they prefer former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, who ran against Murphy in 2021 and came close to winning.

Former radio host Bill Spadea came in second, with 12% of poll respondents choosing him. State Sen. Jon Bramnick was next, with 4%, followed by Justin Barbera, a Burlington County contractor, with 3%. No one polled picked former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac, while 4% said they liked none of the candidates.

President Donald Trump has not endorsed anyone in the race, but Republican and GOP-leaning voters were split about whether that would matter, with 46% saying it’d make them likelier to support the endorsed candidate, another 46% saying an endorsement wouldn’t impact their vote, and 7% saying they’d be less likely to vote for a Trump-endorsed candidate, according to the poll.

On the Democratic side, voters polled had no clear consensus.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill had the most support, even though only 17% of those polled said they prefer her. Next up was Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, with 12%, followed by Sean Spiller, New Jersey Education Association’s president, at 10%; Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Rep. Josh Gottheimer, each at 9%, and former state Sen. Steve Sweeney, at 7%. Four percent of those polled preferred none of the candidates.

“Though not necessarily unusual at this stage in the game, candidates on both sides of the aisle still lack name recognition from a notable number of voters, and no candidate on either side of the aisle is viewed favorably by more than one in five voters,” Koning said.