New Jersey conservative gets Palin support, but lags in polling

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has endorsed Steve Lonegan (R) in his bid for retiring Rep. Jon Runyan’s (R-N.J.) seat, but a new survey shows him badly trailing GOP primary opponent Tom MacArthur.

{mosads}Palin previously endorsed Lonegan when he ran unsuccessfully for Senate last year, and again touted him as a “dedicated fighter for lower taxes, balanced budgets, and lessening the burdens of regulations on small businesses.”

While Lonegan has secured the backing of a handful of national Tea Party groups, establishment Republicans are wary of his candidacy, fearful his penchant for off-color comments and his staunch conservatism could lose them the seat.

Though it’s traditionally gone to Republicans, Obama won it the last two cycles and Democrats have a strong recruit in Burlington County Freeholder Aimee Belgard.

Establishment Republicans prefer MacArthur, the former mayor of Randolph who has poured $2 million of his own money into the campaign. He’s also secured the Ocean and Burlington County endorsements, giving him an advantage in next Tuesday’s primary.

And a new survey, conducted by the Tarrance Group for establishment-minded GOP group American Action Network, puts MacArthur soundly in the lead. The group is backing MacArthur.

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He snags 43 percent of likely GOP primary voters, while Lonegan takes 30 percent support and another 27 percent are still undecided. That’s a considerable surge from AAN’s last survey, in April, when MacArthur had just a 5-point lead over Lonegan.

The survey, which was conducted among 400 likely GOP primary voters from May 18-20 and has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points, also indicates MacArthur is seen more favorably than Lonegan.