Democrat Sherrill leads Republican Ciattarelli in New Jersey governor's race by 8 points: poll

Democrat Rep. Mikie Sherrill is leading Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli in the New Jersey governor's race by eight points, according to a new poll.

According to a Fox News poll released Tuesday, 50% of likely New Jersey voters said they would vote for Sherrill, compared to 42% who said they would vote for Ciattarelli. Among the larger sample of registered voters, 48% were for Sherrill, while 41% were for Ciattarelli.

The two candidates will face off next month to replace Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited and beat Ciattarelli in the 2021 gubernatorial election by only about 3 points.

While both Sherrill and Ciattarelli supporters have a high degree of vote certainty, at 84% each, one in seven voters say they could change their mind before casting ballots.

A total of 50% of Ciattarelli supporters, compared to 42% of Sherrill supporters, say they are more enthusiastic about voting this year than usual.

More voters have a positive opinion of Sherrill, at 51%, than of Ciattarelli, at 45%.

The survey was completed after the first gubernatorial debate and news that the National Personnel Records Center at the National Archives had mistakenly released unredacted portions of Sherrill's military records.

The poll was conducted Sept. 25-28, directed jointly by Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), of 1,002 New Jersey registered voters. The subsample of likely voters was 822. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points.