Memorandum

To: Guadagno for Governor Leadership
From: Chris LaCivita, Campaign consultant
Re: Updated poll numbers

I wanted to share some exciting and promising news with the Guadagno for Governor Leadership team.  Despite the near weekly release of public polls aimed at suppressing the GOP vote and showing the race unwinnable (like they did for President Trump) the race for Governor is actually a lot closer.

As you may recall, back in June, we conducted an internal survey that showed Goldman Sachs millionaire Phil Murphy leading Kim by 9 points –  with both candidates having a large share of voters  that had no opinion (despite Murphy spending over $20 million to win his primary).  By nearly a two to one advantage, voters said that taxes –  specifically personal property taxes, was the number one issue.

Just last week we finished another statewide survey that showed Kim down by just 7 points –  and voters becoming more aware of the differences between Kim and Murphy on the issues of taxes and spending.  This can be directly attributed to the paid TV that is currently airing statewide, by both our campaign and the Republican Governor’s Association, led by Governor Walker of Wisconsin.

Despite the volume of TV, both candidates are still not fully defined with the electorate with 33% having no opinion of Kim and 38% unaware of Phil Murphy.

Herein lies our opportunity.  With so many other issues driving the news (Senator Menendez’s corruption trial being just one) we are anticipating an election whose turnout could be even lower than the Gubernatorial election of 2013.  With Democrats uninterested and unenthusiastic about their standard bearer, Phil Murphy will go even further to the left to assuage those special interests that he really is one of them.  That means a continued discussion of taxes –  and more insane promises to spend, spend, spend in an attempt to buy those constituencies Murphy desperately needs.

As we head into the final weeks of this campaign, we need a full court press to remind our voters that not only is this race winnable, but that for the first time in recent memory, we are debating issues that are favorable to us!  Taxes!

We need to keep up the pressure, increase our activities on the ground and continue to fully engage Phil Murphy in a simple – yet effective contrast:  Kim Guadagno will cut your property taxes, Phil Murphy will raise them!

It’s that simple.