1978 United States Senate election in New Jersey

1978 United States Senate election in New Jersey
	County results; Bradley: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%; Bell: 40–50% 50–60%
U.S. senator before election; Clifford P. Case; Republican	Elected U.S. Senator ; Bill Bradley; Democratic

The 1978 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Clifford P. Case ran for re-election to a fifth term in office, but was narrowly defeated in the Republican primary by anti-tax conservative Jeff Bell, who then went on to lose the general election to Democratic nominee Bill Bradley.

Primary elections were held on June 6, 1978.^[1]

Republican primary[]

Candidates[]

Jeff Bell, political aide and speechwriter for Ronald Reagan's 1976 presidential campaign
Clifford P. Case, incumbent U.S. Senator

Results[]

Republican primary results^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Bell	118,555	50.74
	Republican	Clifford P. Case (incumbent)	115,082	49.26
Total votes			233,637	100.00

Democratic primary[]

Candidates[]

Wesley K. Bell, former Mayor of Stafford Township
Bill Bradley, former professional basketball player
Richard Leone, former New Jersey State Treasurer
Alexander J. Menza, State Senator
Kenneth C. McCarthy
Ray Rollinson

Results[]

Democratic primary results^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bill Bradley	217,502	58.90
	Democratic	Richard Leone	97,667	26.45
	Democratic	Alexander J. Menza	32,386	8.77
	Democratic	Kenneth C. McCarthy	9,524	2.58
	Democratic	Wesley K. Bell	8,800	2.38
	Democratic	Ray Rollinson	3,374	0.91
Total votes			369,253	100.00

General election[]

Candidates[]

Jeff Bell, Republican
Bill Bradley, Democratic
Robert Bowen, Labor
J.M. Carter, Independent
Alice Conner, Socialist Workers
Bill Gahres, Independent
Paul Ferguson, Socialist Labor
Jasper C. Gould, Independent
Jack Moyers, Libertarian
Herbert H. Shaw, Independent
William R. Thorn, Independent

Polling[]

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Bill Bradley (D)	Jeffrey Bell (R)	Other/ Undecided
Rutgers-Eagleton	May 7–16, 1978	793 RV	36%	17%	47%
Rutgers-Eagleton	Sept. 19–Oct. 1, 1978	883 RV	49%	24%	27%
Rutgers-Eagleton	October 23–29, 1978	946 RV	50%	32%	18%
Rutgers-Eagleton	October 23–29, 1978	510 LV	51%	40%	9%

^ Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear

Hypothetical polling

with Case

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Margin of error	Clifford Case (R)	Bill Bradley (D)	Richard Leone (D)	Alex Menza (D)	Other/ Undecided
Rutgers-Eagleton	May 7–16, 1978	1007 A	±4.0%	37%	27%	–	–	36%
				44%	–	24%	–	32%
				43%	–	–	18%	40%

with Bell

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Margin of error	Jeffrey Bell (R)	Richard Leone (D)	Alex Menza (D)	Other/ Undecided
Rutgers-Eagleton	May 7–16, 1978	620 LV	±?%	18%	29%	–	54%
				19%	–	22%	59%

^ ^a ^b Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear

Results[]

1978 United States Senate election in New Jersey^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bill Bradley	1,082,960	55.32%
	Republican	Jeff Bell	844,200	43.13%
	Independent	Herbert H. Shaw	4,736	0.24%
	Independent	Bill Gahres	3,817	0.20%
	Libertarian	Jack Moyers	3,809	0.20%
	U.S. Labor	Robert Bowen	3,656	0.19%
	Independent	J.M. Carter	3,618	0.19%
	Independent	Jasper C. Gould	2,955	0.15%
	Independent	William R. Thorn	2,776	0.14%
	Socialist Labor	Paul Ferguson	2,604	0.13%
	Socialist Workers	Alice Conner	2,384	0.12%
Total votes			1,957,515	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

References[]

^ ^a ^b ^c "1978 Primary Election Results" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. 1978. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
^ "1978 General Election Results" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. 1978. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2018.

[key-2] Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear

[key-3] Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear

[New_Jersey-1] "1978 Primary Election Results" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. 1978. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2018.

[4] "1978 General Election Results" (PDF). Secretary of State of New Jersey. 1978. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2018.

[1]

[a]

[a]

[2]

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