It's only taken New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine four months to get his poll numbers down in second-term Bush range.

A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found Corzine's job approval ratings plummeted in April to 35 percent from 43 percent last month.

Corzine campaigned for office promising to reduce New Jersey's highest-in-the-nation property taxes. When he was elected, his tax cutting promises were quickly replaced with promises of higher taxes.

Among other things, he promised a big increase in the property tax rebates that New Jersey homeowners receive each year. Property owners in New Jersey pay about $6,000 a year on average.

But after inheriting a $4.5 billion budget deficit, Corzine called for $1.9 billion in tax increases - including an increase in the sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent - and announced that the property tax relief he promised would cost too much at $550 million. He offered $100 million instead.

One Democrat voter is shocked!

"He did a great job as senator. You would just figure it would carry over as governor," said disappointed Democrat Neil Harry Lori, a plumber from Montclair who liked Corzine's liberal record in the Senate, especially his 2002 vote against authorizing President Bush to invade Iraq.

There's often a big difference between a legislator and an executive, and even Democrats are finding that out.

Newsday also has an interesting take on the New Jersey situation -- and it's an interesting take on a game often played in Washington.

When Republicans reduce the rate of growth in some federal program, Democrats and the media often refer to that as the GOP "spending cut." A similar semantic game is taking place in New Jersey politics. Corzine is touting his spending cuts as he also raises taxes -- the problem is that his "cuts" are really little more than reductions in the rate of growth.

In the budding public relations battle to win the minds of New Jerseyans, both sides are focusing on entirely different angles of Corzine's $31 billion budget proposal. But neither is emphasizing the complete picture to residents who could end up paying more taxes and getting less government services when all is said and done.

The conflict lies in a budget plan that has increases built into it by courts, contracts and other expectations. Because of those required additions, Corzine's administration maintains its plan still would cut spending by $2.5 billion, even if its overall proposal is costlier than this fiscal year's budget.

This year's state budget is $28.3 billion. So, by Joe Taxpayer's English, if you're planning on spending $31 billion this year, that's an increase.

"You can't raise a spending account by 5 percent and call that a cut just because some department wanted a 10 percent increase," [Assembly Minority Leader Republican Alex] DeCroce said.

Both sides spin and it's the language that gets tortured.