NJ Voters Still Indecisive in Gubernatorial Race

New York, NY —

President Obama will be at Farleigh Dickinson University in Hackensack, New Jersey today, campaigning for Governor Jon Corzine. With less than two weeks until the election the incumbent hasn't closed the deal with voters.

Getting out ahead of his Republican opponent, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie has been complicated by the late emergence of independent contender Chris Daggett, a former DEP Commissioner who's polling in the low double digits. WNYC’s Bob Hennelly checked in with Jersey voters to hear their concerns.

REPORTER: At the Morristown Train Station in Morris County New Jersey it doesn’t take long to find someone who is dealing with the state’s almost 10 percent unemployment rate.

GLASGOW: It is come to a time now where if you want to get a good job they want to do a credit check.

REPORTER: That’s 32 year-old Joseph Glasgow who was recently homeless.

GLASGOW: How can you have credit if the economy is down. They won’t even offer you credit. Between the felonies check, the drug screens the credit check it seems like it is easier for non-citizens to find work these days than it is for American citizens.

REPORTER: Glasgow says he thinks the state needs a break from the two major parties.

Would you consider voting for Daggett?

GLASGOW: Absolutely. I don’t know too much about Daggett, but I’d definitely think of an independent. You should have more options than just Republican or Democrat.

REPORTER: Over the summer, thanks to Governor Corzine low approval ratings, former US Attorney Chris Christie was in the lead. Christie solid track record of prosecuting some 200 public officials from both parties gave him an opening. Shem Ghosh, from Cedar Knolls works in the financial services industry and is voting for Christie.

GHOSH: I like Barak Obama and I voted for him in the 2008 Presidential race, but this is independent of President Obama and Vice President Biden think. We have had a Democrat for the last eight years and the Democratic Party is not challenged. It has been a one party state.

REPORTER: And for Ghosh, the Corzine credential the Governor used in his resume to win election the first time is now, well, a disqualifier.

GHOSH: No one ever talks about what Jon Corzine and where he came from before. He ran Goldman Sachs which are now running Wall Street and running Washington DC as well.

REPORTER: Alexander Timcenko is an engineer by training but now works in the financial sector. As polls indicate he is like a lot of voters in that his preference for Governor sounds, well, still soft.

TIMCENKO: Being a life long Democrat voter I think that Governor Corzine would probably do a better job. But if you ask me why, I am not sure.

REPORTER: He says the political debate is poorly informed by superficial media coverage of the economy. He says that means the depth and danger presented by the current crisis is not fully appreciated.

TIMCENKO: Well I’ll tell you. I was just reading about Goldman bonuses. I don’t think that matters. As much as we can talk about whether it is ethical, whether it makes sense or whether it is good for this or that. I don’t think it matters. This country can afford a Goldman. This country can not afford 10 percent unemployment.

REPORTER: And from his point of view its not there isn't a lot of work to be done.

TIMCENKO: Our transportation system, our utilities, our infrastructure in general needs a boost. We are riding on fifty year old highways. The Morristown Erie line track was laid in late 1800’s I believe.

REPORTER: He says at one time it would have been inconceivable that the US would have fallen so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to deploying new technologies and upgrading basic infrastructure. Case in point high speed rail in China.

TIMCENKO: They do have something called Mag-Lev which runs 300 miles an hour and take people around Shanghai. We don’t. We don’t.

REPORTER: Sooner or later when talking to voters in Jersey the topic of property taxes crops up. It’s the way the state pays for running 600 school districts, 566 towns, and 21 counties. For decades, whether Republicans or Democrats ran Trenton, property taxes just kept going up.

For college Professor Art Ritter it was Independent Chris Daggett’s plan to cut property taxes by 25 percent that got his attention and his vote. Daggett says roll back property taxes by broadening what is covered by the sales tax to include services.

RITTER: It made sense in the sense that it is a use tax rather than a tax of owning property. And use taxes tend to be a little more progressive than property taxes especially for younger an older people.

REPORTER: Ritter says he knows usually an independent is a long shot because the two major parties are part of the state's and the nation’s DNA. But this year he insist could be different.

RITTER: It is a perfect storm. There is a Governor who is perceived by most people to have not lived up to his potential, and as a challenger who seems to have thought that because the Governor was so unpopular all he had to do was show up, and he presented himself as a prosecutor and he would be elected.

REPORTER: With less than two weeks to go polls indicate the number of undecideds is actually going up. For WNYC I am Bob Hennelly.

Tomorrow night they’ll get one more chance to size up their options with a radio debate produced by WBGO in Newark, and carried here on WNYC.