“Saturday Night Live” has for decades been renowned for its note perfect political impressions: Dan Aykroyd as Richard Nixon, Dana Carvey as George H.W. Bush, Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton, Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump.

But the show’s half-baked impersonation of New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, which has become more prevalent of late as Booker remains in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, has been just awful.

Yes, Booker is way back in the polls — “SNL” hit Booker hard on his ugly figures two weeks ago — but he still deserves a better imitation than the lazy rendition actor Chris Redd has been rolling out since last year, doing little to transform himself other than widen his eyes to mimic Booker’s oft-intense gaze.

Redd, a St. Louis-bred comedian who joined the “SNL” cast as a featured player in 2017 and was upgraded to repertory status this year, has appeared in plenty of worthy bits elsewhere on the show, especially in the viral “Diner Lobster” sketch that aired in 2018.

But Redd doesn’t sound like the former Newark mayor, he doesn’t have the expressions down, he doesn’t even get any good lines — usually he’s just a quick hitter for a crack about Newark not getting the Amazon HQ2 deal, or getting out of way for grander guest cameos: most recently Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris or Woody Harrelson as Joe Biden.

Please “SNL,” kill this lowly in-house impression and give Booker his own guest spot. If you need a recommendation, how about “Key and Peele” co-star and former Obama anger translator Keegan Michael-Key? He looks the part and could almost certainly better mimic Booker’s earnest, painfully dramatic, “always giving a sermon” manner. He even performed a sample impression for Larry King in 2016!

Though soon enough, this point will probably be moot anyway. If Booker continues to trickle in at a lowly 2% at the polls and ultimately drops from the race, there will be little reason to have him on the show at all.

But for now, give New Jersey one iota of respect and do right by Booker — he can use a laugh.

Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.