In the race against Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D), former Rep. Dick Zimmer (R) is down by 11 points and is unknown to more than 40 percent of New Jersey voters, according to a new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

The survey of 840 likely voters showed Lautenberg ahead 46 percent to 35 percent, with 41 percent of voters indicating they had not heard of Zimmer and another 33 percent indicating they had no opinion of him.

Among Democrats, 76 percent said they had either not heard of Zimmer or had no opinion of him.

“This is a strange situation to be in two months before an election,” said Peter Woolley, the director of the university’s new poll. “The Republican is so unfamiliar to Democrats that they don’t even have a poor opinion of him.”

Meanwhile, 91 percent of voters know who Lautenberg is.

The survey was in the field Sept. 4-7 and had a margin of error of 3.4 points.