Independent stirs up New Jersey governor contest

A Monmouth University/Gannett poll showed Christie edging out Corzine, 43 percent to 42 percent, while Doggett's support dwindled to 8 percent.

Even though Daggett's support appeared to have declined since he polled a high of 20 percent, it is seen as draining votes mainly from the Republican side.

"As an independent, Daggett doesn't have some of the baggage that being a Democrat or being a Republican has," said Joseph Marbach, a political science professor and dean of New Jersey's Seton Hall University.

"On the national level you have sharp and divided partisanship, particularly over stimulus issues or healthcare issues and now foreign affairs," he said. "Daggett represents a change from that."

Independents seldom poll as well as Daggett has, said Douglas Muzzio, a public affairs professor at Baruch College in New York. "He's tapped into some anger, some fear, some distrust, but overall a dissatisfaction with the incumbent and his Republican challenger."

A Quinnipiac University poll of likely voters from Oct. 20-26 showed Corzine leading Christie at 43 to 38 percent, with Daggett at 13 percent. The poll of 1,267 likely voters had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

The negative campaign has seen candidates trading barbs. In one ad, Corzine even poked fun at Christie's weight.

What the race is not, however, is a referendum on the Obama administration, observers said.

Instead it is centered on local issues, namely property taxes, and on Corzine's record, none of which reflects what Obama is doing on the national stage, they said.

"There is only one issue in New Jersey, and has been for years, and that is real estate taxes," said Maurice Carroll, a pollster at Quinnipiac University. "This is not a referendum on Obama." (Additional reporting by Corbett Daly in Camden and Caren Bohan in Washington; Editing by Jackie Frank and Chris Wilson)