Politics & Government

FDU Poll: Obama's Approval Dips in NJ, But He Still Does Well

Menendez leads possible Republican challengers.

President Obama's rating among New Jerseyans has dipped slightly since November, but residents of the mostly blue Garden State still approve of him overall, according to the latest poll by ’s PublicMind center.

Obama's rating in the latest poll was 47 percent positive, 41 percent negative—slightly off from the 51-40 rating he got in November. But the figures are similar to the 47-43 rating the poll gave him in October.

Obama's approvals were higher among women (53 percent) than men (41 percent) in the latest poll. Voters under 30 years old gave him a 60 percent approval rating; voters older than 30 gave him just a 46 percent approval.

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“Obama’s approval, even if tepid, comes despite that many voters are unhappy with the health care bill, unhappy with the economy and unhappy with the direction of the country,” Peter Woolley, a political scientist and director of the poll, said in a statement from PublicMind.

While a 34 percent of voters polled by FDU said they will be personally better off with the health care reform bill passed last year, 44 percent said they think they'll be worse off. A majority of voters under 30 years of age (56 percent) think they’ll be better off, but voters older than 30 don’t agree, according to the poll. Among Democrats, 57 percent said they'd be better off with the bill, but 77 percent of Republicans said they'd be worse off.

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Voters polled were somewhat more willing to say that the country will be better off with the health care bill. They split, 42% saying the country will be better off and 43% saying it will be worse off.

A majority (52 percent) continue to say the country is on the wrong track, compared to just 35 percent who say it is headed in the right direction, according to the poll. That gap of 17 percentage points is an improvement from the November poll's 27-point difference, and October’s 30-point gap.  The improvement comes despite that 40 percent say the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan is going well, but 47 percent say it is not going well.

Sen. Robert Menendez, who is closely tied to the president and up for re-election at the same time as the president in 2012, polls comfortably ahead of six notable Republicans, ranging from 10 points over Tom Kean Jr. (44-34 percent) and Tea Party favorite Michael Doherty (40-30 percent), to 21 points over Kim Guadagno (47-26 percent).  Menendez runs ahead of Christie confidant Joe Kyrillos (41-29 percent), biotech entrepreneur John Crowley (44-30 percent), and state sen. Jennifer Beck (42-29 [ercemt). Tom Kean Jr. does best among Republican voters and those who “lean Republican,” with 73 percent support. Kim Guadagno trails the field with just 59 percent support among Republicans and “lean-Republican" voters

“The fortunes of the president and Menendez are bound together,” Woolley said. “They rode an anti-Republican tide into office. Republicans are hoping an anti-Democratic tide takes them away.  But in this state, Republicans will also need a candidate who can reach beyond Republican voters.” 

The FDU poll of 802 registered voters statewide was conducted by telephone using both landlines and cell phones from Jan. 3 through Jan. 9, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.


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