The race for Senate in New Jersey is no longer a runaway for Cory Booker, according to a poll released Tuesday.
The Quinnipiac University survey showed the Democratic Newark mayor at 53 percent, to Republican Steve Lonegan’s 41 percent among likely voters.
Last month, Booker was ahead by 25 percentage points in a poll of all voters.
“This poll reveals what my supporters and I already knew — New Jersey is not the hopelessly liberal state everyone thinks it is. We are on a path to victory,” Lonegan said.
Booker’s sinking numbers follow recent stories about his extensive travels, personal business deals, increased crime in Newark, and his tendency to exaggerate his past heroics.
On Sunday, The Post revealed that Booker’s tale of a man who bled to death in his arms after being shot wasn’t completely true.
Booker has also admitted that “T-Bone,” a drug dealer he once helped, wasn’t a real person but a “composite” character.
Lonegan, who was endorsed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, has gone after Booker for traipsing around the country — recently attending a Hollywood fund-raiser with A-listers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck — as a rash of murders plagued New Jersey’s largest city.
Lonegan’s campaign also released a new ad warning voters: “Don’t let him do to America, what he’s already done to Newark.”
The special election is Oct. 16.
“Maybe that ‘show horse vs. workhorse’ charge from Republican Steve Lonegan is having an impact,” said pollster Maurice Carroll.
“But if it’s not a blow-out, it still looks like a comfortable lead for Booker. New Jersey is a blue state and it hasn’t elected a Republican senator — let alone a conservative one — since Sen. Clifford Case in 1972,” he added.
Booker campaign spokesman Kevin Griffis called the poll “out of sync” with other surveys.
He also said Lonegan’s gain didn’t blindside the Booker camp.
“We have expected things to get a little bit tighter as more Republicans come home to their party’s candidate,” he said.
The poll of 948 likely voters was conducted Sept. 19-22 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.