NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – New Jersey keeps voting for these guys but, as it turns out, they really don’t like them.
A new joint effort from the Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics and Fairleigh Dickinson University found New Jerseyans with lukewarm-to-ugly feelings towards its state’s senior political figures.
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Click here to view the full results.
Here’s a summary…
PHIL MURPHY: 1 in 5 still have no opinion of the first term governor, but his favorable rating among those who do splits 43% favorable to 37% unfavorable. RU and FDU recently polled Murphy’s job approval rating and discovered the Democrat in positive territory overall but with a rapidly rising negative rating.
CORY BOOKER: Booker is the least unpopular notwithstanding his current presidential campaign (New Jerseyans tend to like their leaders to focus). 46% view Booker favorably while 32% do not. Cory Booker and Robert Menendez, generate disparate levels of support. That’s a drop from Booker’s 52% rating last May from Rutgers and 54% from FDU back in 2016.
BOB MENENDEZ: He may’ve won a double-digit reelection victory last fall, but New Jersey doesn’t like him. At all. Only 21% view Bob Menendez favorably while 47% view him unfavorably. He’s even upside down with Democrat, albeit narrowly (33% to 36%). It’s a testament to how “blue” New Jersey has become when a man accused of heinous acts and public corruption can win reelection with these numbers.
CHRIS CHRISTIE: The one guy in worse shape than Menendez is no longer in office. Christie’s approval rating with Republicans is narrowly positive (43% to 41%), but Democrats and independents hate him (with a 78% unfavorable result from the former and 62% unfavorable verdict from the latter), translating to a 63% overall personal disapproval rating. Christie has visited numerous Republican and right-of-center group events as of late to sell his tell-all book, Let Me Finish.
It’s not working.
“Chris Christie’s recent book tour has done little to help him with New Jerseyans, who still have a bitter taste in in their mouths from Christie’s last years as governor,” opined Ashley Koning, assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling (ECPIP) at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.
One of New Jersey’s most consequential political figures is a virtual unknown.
46% don’t have an opinion on Senate President Steve Sweeney, Phil Murphy’s arch-nemesis and the state legislature’s most powerful figure who controls not just what bills look like but also which bills get to see the light of day. Those who do know who he is are 13% favorable and 21% unfavorable.
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