Menendez only recently began answering Hugin with ads of his own, going after Hugin’s record leading Celgene. | Alex Wong/Getty Images Shock poll shows dead heat in Menendez-Hugin Senate race

Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez is in a dead heat with Republican challenger Bob Hugin, according to a Stockton University poll released Monday, as the public’s negative view of the senator's recent corruption trial weighs down his support.

The poll of 531 likely voters shows Menendez with 45 percent support to Hugin’s 43 percent — a difference well within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.


Menendez, who survived a six-week corruption trial late last year when the jury deadlocked, would normally skate to reelection given President Donald Trump’s deep unpopularity in New Jersey and the state’s normal Democratic tilt. New Jersey has not elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1972.

But Hugin, a recently retired pharmaceutical executive with a vast personal fortune, has poured millions of dollars from his own pocket into the race. He spent much of the summer running TV ads attacking Menendez over his ethics record, and the Senate Ethics Committee’s severe admonishment of him.

Menendez only recently began answering Hugin with ads of his own, going after Hugin’s record leading Celgene, which increased prices on its profitable cancer medication and settled for $280 million with the federal government over a fraud lawsuit.

Roughly 59 percent of voters say the corruption charges against Menendez are an "extremely important" or "significant" factor in their vote, according to the poll. But 51 percent say the same about the way Hugin profited off his company’s cancer drug.

Menendez is viewed favorably by just 30 percent of voters and unfavorably by 54 percent. Hugin, by contrast, is viewed favorably by 34 percent and unfavorably by 21 percent, but a plurality — 43 percent — aren’t familiar with him.

The poll shows Trump remains unpopular in New Jersey, with 50 percent of voters rating his job performance as “poor” and another 14 percent as “fair.” Just 22 percent rate his job performance as “excellent,” while 14 percent rate it as “good.”

Voters give middling ratings to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, with 11 percent saying he’s doing an excellent job, 30 percent good, 27 percent fair and 25 percent poor.

The last public statewide poll of the Senate race, conducted by Quinnipiac University, showed Menendez leading Hugin by 6 points. In the current poll, Libertarian Murray Sabrin pulls 3 percent support, while the several other independent candidates in the race get a combined 8 percent.