Republican challenger Chris Christie led incumbent Gov. Jon S. Corzine in two public opinion polls released last week, though the polls differed in the margin of the lead. A Quinnipiac University poll released Sept. 1 found Christie leading by 10 percentage points, 47 to 37 percent, up from a six-point lead three weeks earlier. Independent candidate Chris Daggett had 9 percent. The same day, Fairleigh Dickinson University released a poll that had Corzine holding Christie’s lead to five points. Daggett wasn’t mentioned in that poll, but still received 1 percent from voters who volunteered him as their choice.

The Quinnipiac poll had more bad news for the governor, with respondents reporting a more favorable impression of Christie on a variety of questions.

“Christie wins on many questions, and he is pulling away from Corzine in a three-way matchup, with a double-digit lead,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Peter Woolley, Fairleigh Dickinson PublicMind poll director, said the difference between the candidates is the result of support within their own parties, with more Republicans backing Christie than Democrats supporting Corzine. NJBIZ