FDU PublicMind - April 4, 2006 Release

Tables

Question: Now, turning to New Jersey… In your opinion, do you think things in New Jersey are moving in the right direction or do you think the state has gotten off on the wrong track?
	All	Party			Mar	Jan	Oct	Sep ‘05	Jul ‘05	Apr ‘05	Jan .‘05
	All	D	I	R	‘06	‘06	‘05	Sep ‘05	Jul ‘05	Apr ‘05	Jan .‘05
Right Direction	26%	33	30	12	34%	34	23	39	36	29	40
Wrong track	57%	44	53	76	47%	48	64	49	51	59	45
Don't know	17%	22	17	12	19%	18	13	12	13	12	15

Question: Have you heard of [rotate list]? If you haven't just tell me. [If yes, ask:] Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of …? Would that be very or somewhat?
[ROTATE NAMES]	Haven't heard of	Heard of	Very Favor- able	Some- what Favor- able	Some- what Un- favor- able	Very Un- favor- able	No opinion
Jon Corzine	3%	97%	16	26	14	21	22
Previous Surveys…
Corzine 03/06	5%	95%	20	30	10	12	26
Corzine 01/06	4%	96%	19	24	17	14	26
Corzine 10/05	0%	100%	23	25	16	21	15
Corzine 9/05	8%	92%	19	27	17	15	21
Corzine 7/05	7%	94%	23	34	14	15	15
Corzine 4/05	8%	91%	18	27	16	16	23
Corzine 1/05	11%	90%	22	31	12	9	26

Question: How would you rate the job Jon Corzine is doing as governor…[READ]?
		All	Dem	Ind	Rep	March 8^th
	Excellent	5%	8	5	2	5%
	Good	23%	33	17	14	30%
	Only fair	36%	33	39	36	31%
	Poor	22%	11	25	37	8%
	unsure (vol)	14%	14	15	12	26%

Question: Do you approve or disapprove of the job Jon Corzine is doing as governor?
		All	Dem	Ind	Rep	March 8^th
	Approve	39%	56	38	21	47%
	Disapprove	36%	22	40	54	16%
	Neither/neutral/mixed/	24%	23	22	25	38%

Question: Now I'd like to ask you a few questions about the New Jersey State budget. How much have you heard or read about the Governor's proposed state budget for the coming year…?
	All	Approve of Governor	Disapprove of Governor
Nothing at all	11%	16	4
Only a little	24%	27	20
Some	41%	35	45
A great deal	23%	22	31

Question: Now in order to balance the budget, some people say…. Others say to balance the budget…. Which position comes closest to your view?
[Rotate list]	All	Dem	Ind	Rep	NJ is headed in right direction	NJ is off on the wrong track	One year ago
… the state should hold the line on spending even if programs are reduced	67%	58	66	80	50	80	63%
the state should raise taxes if necessary and continue to support state programs	21%	33	14	12	38	12	26%
Neither (vol)	4%	2	8	3	3	4	4%
Both (vol)	3%	3	6	--	3	1	2%
Don't know (vol)	4%	4	6	4	6	3	6%

Question: In order to raise money a number of proposals have been discussed. For each of these proposals, can you tell me whether you think it's a good idea or a bad idea?
[Rotate list]			All	Dem.	Ind.	Rep.
Raise the sales tax from 6 cents to 7 cents.
	Good idea		36%	44	32	28
	Bad idea		61%	52	64	71
	Unsure/ref.		3%	4	4	1
If sales tax is bad idea, ask: Would you rather... or…?			[N= 419]
	Raise the sales tax from 6 cents to 7 cents		25	36	20	16
	Make even steeper cuts in state programs		53	40	48	67
	Neither [don't read]		14	13	23	12
	Both [don't read]		1	1	--	1
	Unsure/ref.		8	10	9	4
Increase the cigarette tax by 35 cents per pack
	Good idea		72%	77	72	68
	Bad idea		26%	21	26	30
	Unsure/ref.		2%	3	2	3
Increase the tax on the sale of commercial property worth over a million dollars.
	Good idea		69%	80	63	57
	Bad idea		26%	14	32	36
	Unsure/ref.		6%	6	4	6
Increase the wholesale tax on beer, wine, and liquor.
	Good idea		69%	75	69	61
	Bad idea		28%	22	27	37
	Unsure/ref.		3%	3	4	2
Don't fully restore property tax rebates.
	Good idea		31%	32	29	33
	Bad idea		62%	62	61	62
	Unsure/ref.		7%	5	11	5
Apply the sales tax to some new things such as limousine service, lawn care, haircuts, or health club memberships.		Last year:
	Good idea	17%	39%	46	41	29
	Bad idea	72%	56%	48	57	67
	Unsure/ref.	11%	5%	7	3	5
Increase the registration fee for cars that cost over $45,000.
	Good idea		64%	67	67	58
	Bad idea		32%	27	30	39
	Unsure/ref.		4%	5	4	3
Add a two and a half per cent surcharge to the Corporate Business Tax
	Good idea		54%	64	55	41
	Bad idea		35%	25	36	48
	Unsure/ref.		11%	11	9	10

Question: In order to close the budget deficit, a number of proposals to hold back spending have also been discussed. For each of these proposals, tell me whether you think it's is good idea, a bad idea…
[Rotate list]		All	Dem.	Ind.	Rep.	Last year
Don't increase state aid to cities and towns
	Good idea	35%	24	40	43	39%
	Bad idea	56%	68	52	45	54%
	Unsure/ref.	9%	8	8	12	8%
Cut state aid for colleges and universities.
	Good idea	17%	12	21	23	*20%
	Bad idea	79%	86	78	71	76%
	Unsure/ref.	4%	3	1	6	4%
Eliminate 1000 state jobs.
	Good idea	49%	38	57	60
	Bad idea	41%	52	34	30
	Unsure/ref.	10%	10	9	9
Hold the line on state aid for public school districts.
	Good idea	40%	28	41	54
	Bad idea	53%	64	51	42
	Unsure/ref.	7%	8	8	5
Don't fully restore property tax rebates.
	Good idea	32%	35	30	29
	Bad idea	62%	59	64	66
	Unsure/ref.	6%	6	6	5

* In 2005 the question was “Don't increase state aid to Colleges and Universities.”

Question: Taking everything into account, do you think the budget Gov. Corzine has proposed is good for New Jersey or bad for New Jersey?
	All	Dem.	Ind.	Rep.	Last year	Two Years Ago
Good	30%	42	26	20	33%	25%
Bad	41%	29	45	55	25%	35%
Unsure (vol)	28%	29	30	25	42%	40%

Question: Now, thinking about taxes, who or what do you think is most responsible for driving up state taxes over the years?
[ROTATE LIST]	All	Dem.	Ind.	Rep.
Public schools	8%	8	8	8
Roads and highways	4%	4	3	3
Local government	11%	11	14	8
Health care and pension costs for public employees	18%	17	13	21
Fraud, waste, and abuse	44%	40	44	49
Just normal growth	7%	9	8	5
None of above (vol)	3%	4	4	1
Don't know (vol)	6%	6	6	5

Question: Now, thinking about property taxes… Do you expect property taxes where you live to increase this year, decrease, or stay about the same?... a little or a lot?
[rotate]	All	Dem.	Ind.	Rep.	Last Year	Two Years Ago
Increase a lot	43%	42	42	47	39%	34%
Increase a little	38%	37	41	40	39%	40%
Stay same	15%	17	12	11	16%	17%
Decrease a little	1%	2	2	1	2%	2%
Decrease a lot	--	--	--	--	1%	2%
Don't know (vol)	2%	2	3	2	4%	5%