Well, it looks like having the worst news week ever has not worn well on GOP gubernatorial hopeful Chris Christie:
Republican Christopher Christie leads Gov. Jon Corzine 39%-36% among definite voters, according to a poll conducted by Neighborhood Research, a survey firm run by conservative strategist Rick Shaftan. Independent Christopher Daggett is at 6%.
* * * * *
Among likely voters, Corzine leads Christie 37%-35%, with 6% for Daggett.
Corzine is still far from being out of the woods (his approval numbers are still in a tough, tough spot), but it is clear that the recent revelations about the GOP nominee have inflicted no small amount of damage.
Bear in mind, as well, that this came from a conservative pollster (or, at a minimum, a firm run by a conservative politico). Furthermore, Christie maintains a lead only by winnowing the electorate down to something called "definite voters". Among the more traditional screen of "likely voters" (a screen which, in itself, has been incredibly GOP-friendly this cycle), Corzine actually has a small edge.
Now, of course, this is just one poll, by a little-known pollster. A dollop of healthy skepticism is certainly warranted. It has a reasonably small sample (under 400 folks, for a 5.49% margin of error), and was conducted over a somewhat unusual length of time (ten days).
For their part, the Corzine campaign is keeping the pressure firmly applied on their opponent. Just this morning, they made hay of Christie's reticence to discuss his relationship with the U.S. Attorneys Office by releasing a tough ad on the subject.
Christie, for his part, broke his silence on Monday just long enough to hold a conference call where he whined about the media coverage of the campaign ("the time has come to make sure that we're having fair treatment across the board here") and took some shots at Corzine's past at Goldman Sachs.
In the course of the next few weeks, if the results of this poll are corroborated, it will become clear that the New Jersey governor's race that many Republicans notched in their column in the Spring will have become infinitely more interesting.
UPDATE: Another caveat to throw onto the stack for both realists and pessimists alike. If the name of the pollster doesn't ring a bell, they do have a past history in this race: they were the pollsters for Christie primary opponent Steve Lonegan. Take it for what it's worth. Again, some corroborating (or contradictory) evidence from the myriad of pollsters who love them some Garden State politics should be forthcoming soon.