In New Jersey, Trump-Christie and Clinton-Booker are tickets to nowhwere

Speculation that two New Jersey politicians might be considered as presidential running mates is not winning lots of votes in the Garden State.

About 40 percent of New Jersey voters would be less likely to vote for Donald Trump if he selects Gov. Chris Christie as his running mate, while only 8 percent say that would influence them to support Trump, said Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray.

“Donald Trump says he could make New Jersey competitive, but if he adds Chris Christie to the ticket, it doesn’t look like that would be the case,” Murray said.

On the Democratic side, Murray said, making U.S. Sen. Cory Booker her running mate would sway 18 percent of voters to support Hillary Clinton, while 11 percent say that would make them less likely to vote for her.

“Here in New Jersey, adding Cory Booker to the ticket would be no harm, no foul for Hillary Clinton,” he said.

The poll shows Clinton four percentage points ahead of Trump, but Murray said 15 percent of registered voters are still undecided.

“While this is much closer than we’ve ever seen in a New Jersey race over the past 20 years, I’m not putting a lot of stock in that this is looking like the final numbers,” he said. “Neither Trump nor Clinton have their partisan bases locked in right now. Only 72 percent of Democrats say they’re supporting Clinton … 73 percent of Republicans are supporting Trump.”

New Jersey’s primary elections are June 7.