Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is showcasing a new internal poll that went into the field following his arrest outside an immigration detention facility that puts him within four percentage points of the leading candidate in the race for Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair).
The brushfire poll shows Sherrill leading Baraka, 20.7% to 16.5%, with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop in third with 12.9%.
They’re followed by Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) with 7.3%, New Jersey Education Association President Sean Spiller with 7.1%, and former Senate President Steve Sweeney with 5.1%.
Baraka made the national television circuit over the weekend after ICE arrested him outside Delaney Hall in Newark on Friday afternoon and detained him for several hours.
An internal poll from the Baraka campaign in March had Sherrill leading Baraka by two points, 13.5% to 11.5%, with Fulop at 8.6%.
The poll was conducted on May 11-13 by MDW Communications, a Democratic firm, with a sample size of 1,100 and a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.