Supplementing already in-progress early voting, New Jerseyans will head to the polls this coming Tuesday, Nov 2nd to choose among the following candidates for governor:

Incumbent Democratic Governor Phil Murphy

Republican former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli

Green Party Candidate Madelyn Hoffman

Libertarian Gregg Mele

Socialist Workers Candidate Joanne Kuniansky .

In a battle between the candidates of the two major parties, most polls show Murphy leading Ciattarelli pretty handily.

Here are here final findings of the season:

Monmouth:

Half (50%) of registered voters support Murphy while 39% back Ciattarelli. This 11-point margin is a slight decrease for the incumbent from results in September (13 points, 51% to 38%) and August (16 points, 52% to 36%). Support levels among various demographic groups are generally in line with where they stood last month. The most notable exception is the senior vote (age 65+), which has gone from a 53% to 37% lead for Murphy in September to a smaller 48% to 43% lead in the current poll.

FDU:

Among all voters, Murphy retains a nine point lead over Ciattarelli going into the final days of the race, 53 to 44, with 3 percent of voters saying that they’ll vote for a third party candidate, or skip the governor’s race. Both candidates have managed to shore up their partisan bases, with Murphy getting 94 percent support among Democrats, and Ciattarelli getting 91 percent among Republicans. Among the smaller group of voters who do not lean towards either party, Ciattarelli has a significant lead, 56 to 39.

Stockton:

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy leads Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli 50% to 41% when voters leaning toward a candidate are included. The race for N.J. Governor remains stable, with Murphy holding the same 9 percentage point lead found in a September Stockton poll. Three percent are undecided.

Ciattarelli, of course, could spring an upset. His allies remain very upbeat about their candidate’s prospects.

But if Murphy wins a second term as expected (he would be the first Democratic governor to do so since the late Brendan Byrne in 1977), the 2025 cycle will be open. Now, many suspect he won’t last that long, as the siren song of a presidential contest will beckon him – as it did his predecessor Chris Christie (2016) and colleague U.S. Senator Cory Booker (2020) – in 2024.

Of course, obviously neither of those New Jersey “stars” made it very far.

The results of the Olympic Games seldom reflect the heroics of the jungle gym in one’s own (swampy) backyard.

Assuming the seat is open, however, here is the question: