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Experts: Booker Expected To Run For U.S. Senate If Not Governor

NEWARK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Experts expect Newark Mayor Cory Booker to run for U.S. Senate if he decides not to run for governor against Republican Gov. Chris Christie.

As 1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon reported Tuesday, political observers do not expect Booker to run for re-election as mayor, as he is seen as very ambitious, according to Rutgers Eagleton Poll director and political science professor David Redlawsk.

1010 WINS' Sonia Rincon Reports

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Very few people have a negative view of Booker, Redlawsk said.

"On the other hand, while he has the clearest profile statewide of any Democrat, it's still something like 40 percent of New Jersey voters who don't express any opinion of him, whereas with the governor, there's virtually no one with no opinion," he said.

As of this week, opinions were more favorable than not for Christie.

Booker has to decide soon whether he will run for governor, and Redlawsk said the assumption is that if Booker is not interested in the governor's race, he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2014. It is still too early to say that publicly, though.

"But it would not be too early to be setting the stage behind the scenes," Redlawsk said.

Booker said earlier this month that he was strongly considering a run for governor.

"Yeah, I absolutely am considering running for governor as well as giving other options some consideration. I'm going to be focusing on that for the next week to 10 days or so," Booker said earlier in the month on CBS' "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer.

Do you think Booker should run for governor? Please leave your comments below...

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