Who would've thunk it?

by: Adam L

Mon Aug 22, 2011 at 10:28:00 AM EDT

Not so fast:

As out-of-state Republicans urge Gov. Chris Christie to seek the party's presidential nomination next year, a majority of New Jerseyans questioned in a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll made public on Friday say they would not vote to re-elect him as governor in 2013.

Forty-nine percent said they would support another candidate while 42 percent said they would vote for Christie.

(Lest anyone think Corzine was in a similar boat, or "all Governors are like this", it wasn't until his final year in office where his ratings turned upside down.)

Maybe it is time to rethink the generalization about real New Jerseyans liking the stereotypical New Jerseyan....

Poll: Voters Support Stem Cell Bond Referendum

by: Juan Melli

Thu Oct 25, 2007 at 09:00:00 AM EDT

But even among those who disagree, only a small minority do so on moral grounds. Of those opposing the referendum, 58% say the state can't afford to borrow the money while 26% say it's for moral reasons. Tim Vercellotti, director of polling at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, says "the margin favoring approval of the stem cell research bond issue is typical for recent ballot questions about state uses of public funds, despite public controversy surrounding this type of research. That some of the key constituencies expected to oppose the ballot question, such as evangelical Christians and Republican voters, are narrowly in favor or divided speaks to the strength of public support for the bond issue."

By a much larger 70%-21% margin, voters support the ballot question which would dedicate the entire penny increase in the sales tax towards property tax relief.

The poll shows a steep drop in Governor Corzine's approval rating from 57% in August to 47% today. Two thirds of voters now think there is a lot of public corruption in the state, up from 47% in August, 2004.

And while approval of the Democratic-led legislature has dropped from 37% in 2004 to 30% today, Democrats may not suffer much at the polls. By 10 points, likely voters prefer Democrats to Republicans for the Assembly (42%-32%) and Senate (44%-34%). In both cases, the split is similar to the results from 2003 (41%-32% for Assembly, 43%-33% for Senate).

Among likely voters, 28% said reducing property taxes was the top issue the next governor should address. Overtaking corruption as the #2 issue in 2005, 21% said reducing the budget crisis should be the top priority, while corruption registered a close third at 19%.