Candidates across the board for New Jersey governor are struggling with name recognition, leaving an open — and crowded — playing field less than five months before the primary election, new poll numbers suggest.

It’s first poll of 2025 showing how the field stacks up head to head in the wide-open election. Ciattarelli, a former member of the state Assembly who came close to unseating Murphy four years ago, has a 13-point lead in the contest for the Republican nomination,