BRANCHBURG - A Friday morning poll reconfirmed Jack Ciattarelli's status as the frontrunner for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

Later that day, he was in his home county of Somerset for a friendly and upbeat town hall with voters.

Reflecting on a travel schedule of "564 towns and 600 diners," he said, simply, "It's great to be home."

More than 100 people, some standing, were at the Fox Hollow Golf Club, to hear Ciattarelli.

The candidate seemed to know most people in the room, addressing many by name. He joked with a man who, he said, was his old high school basketball coach. (There was no word on how Jack played defense).

The primary is June 10, but Ciattarelli acts like he has the nomination sewed up.

Not only is he ahead in the polls, he said his two main opponents (Bill Spadea and Jon Bramnick) are not about unifying the party. GOP unification is key in a state where registered Dems outnumber Republicans by almost 900,000, although the GOP has been slowly closing the gap.

Ciattarelli is already talking about "coattails," dreaming about Republicans taking control of the Assembly by "flipping" 13 seats.

Talk about a tall order. The state Senate is not up this year.

At the same time, Ciattarelli offered the standard bromide about the "only poll that counts is on election day."  That was probably a pretty perceptive comment when someone first said it.

Ciattarelli ran down his plans if he gets to Trenton.

Among other things, he wants a new school funding formula, more redevelopment in downtowns - as opposed to the suburbs - and an end to "cashless bail," which, interestingly, was a Chris Christie initiative.

He also pledged to appoint not merely conservatives to the state Supreme Court, but "ultra-conservatives."

Looking ahead to his anticipated battle in the fall, Ciattarelli made clear he would be campaigning against Phil Murphy and another four years of the Murphy agenda.

He used a one-liner that he has used before - "The Democrats care about pronouns, Republicans care about property taxes."

Ciattarelli came within about four points of beating Murphy in 2021.

He said he lost because too many Republicans were indifferent. This year, they need to get out and vote.

"Don't let anyone stay home," he said to his supporters.

He said he also thinks that after eight years of Murphy, Republicans will have the "wind at their back" this fall.

Maybe?

At the moment, Donald Trump's approval rating is under 50 percent and the stock market is in turmoil. No one knows how the political winds will be blowing in six months.

But public unhappiness with Trump won't help Ciattarelli.