(Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine finds himself in the most precarious situation of his political career: trailing his challenger by as many as 10 percentage points just two months before Election Day as residents vent frustration for the state's financial and corruption problems.Corzine, a Democrat and former chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co., seeks to make voters look beyond their economic woes and recognize his efforts to create jobs, expand health care and improve public education. Republican Chris Christie, a former U.S. attorney riding a reputation as a corruption fighter, will continue blaming Corzine for the state's 9.3 percent unemployment and the highest property taxes in the nation.
"The only way Corzine can win this is to make Christie the greater of two evils," said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington. "And what Christie needs to do is to deflect that as much as possible and keep the spotlight on Jon Corzine and his record."
Corzine, 62, is the only U.S. governor seeking re-election this year. While Virginia has a gubernatorial race, the state's chief executive, Tim Kaine, isn't seeking another term. Both races are seen as a referendum on President Barack Obama, who has campaigned for the Democrats.
Support for Obama and his policies declined over the summer, making it harder for Corzine to ride the President's coattails. Fifty-one percent of New Jersey voters approved of the job Obama is doing in a Sept. 1 poll by Quinnipiac University, down from 60 percent approval in a July survey.
Challenger's Lead
This month's poll had Christie leading Corzine, 47 percent to 37 percent, and 60 percent disapproving of Corzine's job performance. The survey of 1,612 likely voters had an error margin of 2.4 percentage points. "Jon Corzine is continuing to take the beating of a bad economy, any incumbent would," said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. "He should be worried, but he still has a shot."