Andy Kim finds majority support in New Jersey Senate primary: Poll

Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) has the support of a majority of Democratic primary voters in New Jersey after his main opponent dropped out last week, a new poll released Tuesday has found. 

The survey from Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill showed Kim leading in the Democratic race for Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-N.J.) Senate seat with 51 percent of the vote. Patricia Campos-Medina, who is the executive director of the Worker Institute at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, has 6 percent, while activist and community organizer Lawrence Hamm has 5 percent. 

Almost 40 percent said they were undecided. 

The poll comes after New Jersey first lady Tammy Murphy dropped out of the race last week, saying that the continuing in the race would require “waging a very divisive and negative campaign, which I am not willing to do.” While she was in the race, the primary was expected to be a close battle between her and Kim, but with her out, Kim appears likely to secure the Democratic nomination and potentially the Senate seat. 

“Kim has been able to coalesce a base of voters over 60 and those with college degrees,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a release. “64% of voters over 60 and 58% of voters with a college degree support Kim for the nomination.” 

Menendez has chosen not to run in the Democratic primary for his seat amid the federal indictment against him, accusing him of a variety of crimes, including bribery. He has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. 

He has said he would consider running as an “independent Democrat” in the general election if he is exonerated. The poll showed voters in New Jersey are not likely to back him in that effort, as he only received support from 9 percent of respondents to 49 percent for the Democratic nominee and 42 percent for the Republican nominee. 

With New Jersey as a solidly blue state, the Democratic nominee is highly likely to win the Senate seat in the general election. 

The poll was conducted from March 26-29 among 1,000 registered voters with a credibility interval of 3 percentage points. The sample included 408 Democratic primary voters with a credibility interval of 4.8 percentage points.