Poll: Obama still strong in New Jersey

by: Hopeful

Thu Feb 04, 2010 at 12:30:00 PM EST

Overall, 55% of New Jersey residents approve of the job President Obama is doing while 36% disapprove. This is better than the national average of 48% approve to 49% disapprove according to the Pollster.com website. The president garners approval from 83% of Democrats, 49% of independents, and just 15% of Republicans in the Garden State. Obama's job rating is down somewhat from the 59% approve to 29% disapprove numbers he received from Garden State voters in July 2009... The poll also found that Barack Obama as a person is viewed favorably by 61% of New Jerseyans and unfavorably by 26%.

Given such better scores, it seems unlikely that New Jersey will be a battleground at the Presidential level next time, though it should be noted that Obama probably does better among "adults" than 2010 or 2012 "likely voters." Republicans in Congress and Democrats score equally poorly in terms of "making the right decisions for the country's future." Still, if an incumbent can get the votes of those who have "just some" confidence in Congress he'd win overwhelmingly. New Jerseyans think the middle class (or for that matter, the poor and the wealthy) have not benefited much yet from Obama's policies so far, but Wall Street bankers have. If unemployment improves the way the stock market has those numbers will improve. That's "if."