Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine pulled ahead of Republican challenger Christopher Christie for the first time in his bid for re-election, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Corzine, 62, a first-term Democrat and former co-chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co., leads Christie, 43 percent to 38 percent, among likely voters, the survey found. The results exceed the poll’s error margin of 2.8 percentage points. Independent candidate Christopher Daggett received 13 percent, while 5 percent remained undecided.

Christie, a former U.S. attorney for New Jersey, held a 12- point lead on Corzine in July. The Republican slipped to a 1- point advantage Oct. 14 after Corzine ran television ads attacking Christie’s support for ending state-mandated health- insurance coverage and his links as a fundraiser for former President George W. Bush.

When Daggett, a former commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection, was included in the July poll, Christie’s lead shrank to 9 points. Thirty-eight percent of Daggett’s supporters said they may change their mind before they vote on Nov. 3, and 43 percent named Christie as their second choice compared with 27 percent for Corzine, the poll found.

“Daggett has quite clearly mixed up the calculations,” Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in an interview. “He’s a credible candidate and he made a three-way squabble out of this. This is a real honest- to-goodness barn-burner.”

Opinions of Candidates

Fifty-two percent of those polled said they hold an unfavorable view of Corzine, compared with 42 percent for Christie. Sixty-one percent said they haven’t heard enough about Daggett to formulate an opinion.

Corzine’s disapproval among voters was 54 percent, his best rating since May. When voters were asked if they thought the candidates were honest and trustworthy, Corzine got his first positive score this year, with 46 percent for him and 44 percent against. Christie got his worst score on this question, with 37 percent saying he is honest and 39 percent saying he isn’t.

Corzine has so far spent $23.6 million in the race, according to state Election Law Enforcement Commission reports released yesterday. Christie had spent $8.8 million and Daggett’s expenditure’s totaled $1.2 million, the agency said.

‘All the Momentum’

Corzine’s campaign “has all of the momentum in this race,” his spokeswoman Elisabeth Smith said. “People across New Jersey recognize that Governor Corzine is fighting for what matters to New Jersey families.”

Tom Johnson, Daggett’s spokesman, said mischaracterization and inaccuracies from the campaigns of Christie and Corzine have sapped support for all candidates. Much of the movement in polls has been in growing disapproval ratings for the two, he said.

“The Republican and Democratic campaigns have spent millions, even tens of millions, on negative advertising,” Johnson said. “Voters are upset and when Election Day comes they’re going to vote for the only candidate who’s going to deliver real change for New Jersey.”

Brittany Bramell, a spokeswoman for Christie, said his campaign would release a statement later today.

Quinnipiac, based in Hamden, Connecticut, surveyed 1,267 likely New Jersey voters from Oct. 20-26. The institute will release one more poll a day before the election, Carroll said

To contact the reporter on this story: Terrence Dopp in Trenton, New Jersey, at +1‘ tdopp@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 28, 2009 12:14 EDT