A new Monmouth Poll shows Joe Biden underwater in New Jersey despite posting a strong double-digit win in the Garden State during the 2020 election cycle.
The survey found Biden, who is now halfway through his first term, treading water with a 46% job approval rating statewide while 48% disapprove; that’s practically unchanged from an April 2022 Monmouth survey.
While it doesn’t necessarily mean Biden is in danger of losing here (no Democrat presidential nominee has failed to carry New Jersey post-1988, and Trump sat at 37%-58% at this same point in the 2020 cycle), weakness in a “blue” state does suggest that a better-than-expected midterm for Democrats will not necessarily translate to success for the president next year assuming, of course, he confirms a 2024 reelection bid.
Biden’s numbers are particularly ugly among Garden State independents of whom only 34% approve of his job performance.
Regionally, Biden performs best in “Central Jersey” where he’s above water by 4-points (49% to 45%). Centeral Jersey includes Rutgers University, the woke suburbs of Somerset County and an increasingly diverse Mercer-Middlesex region.
He’s performing the worst in North Jersey (44%-50%) where Republicans have shown signs of live in the last couple of cycles, South Jersey (44%-49%) where Republicans are currently on the upswing, among men (41%-53%) who tend to vote Republican in strong numbers than women and, lastly, voters between ages 35 and 54 (40%-53%). Biden is statistically tied with older voters 55+ (49%-48%) which represents a hopeful sign for Democrats since this voting group is the most reliable.
