Despite scandals affecting top Democratic fundraisers, the public’s views of the governor have improved slightly in the past three months. According to the most recent survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind. 37% of voters rate the governor’s job performance as excellent or good, as compared to just 31% in April and 29% in January of this year. Those who say the governor deserves re-election appear to have increased slightly to 32% from 29%, though that change is within the poll’s margin of error.

“The governor’s numbers are not as bad as one might expect given the controversies swirling around his associates,”said Bruce Larson, professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University and survey analyst for the PublicMind. “It may be that McGreevey’s media efforts during the past several months—such as promoting EZ Pass and other state programs—have helped his standing with voters and softened the potential fallout from the scandals.”

The governor is the only statewide elected official whose unfavorable ratings (47%) exceed his favorable ratings (41%). He is also the most widely known elected official with 97% of respondents recognizing his name immediately. A number of his potential rivals within the party or in the Republican Party do not spark recognition among the general public. For example, three-quarters of voters do not recognize the downstate Democratic US House member Rob Andrews or the Republican state legislator Diane Allen. “Any talk of the Governor being challenged from within the party is just inside baseball at this point,”said Larson. “But the rumblings may well become more public once we get through the November presidential election.”

When voters are asked whether or not “honest, trustworthy”describes a number of prominent officials, the governor does not stack up well. However, when voters are asked whether he “understands the concerns of the average person,”the governor ranks with the Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry.

Voters have better informed opinions about the governor than they do about the state budget. Two-thirds of voters say they have heard “only a little”or “nothing at all”about the state budget. But disagreeing in part with the New Jersey Supreme Court recent ruling (which said that voters should approve bond issues but that this year the state can go ahead and borrow money without a public referendum), three-quarters of voters prefer to hold the line on spending rather than borrow money to cover any budget deficit.

Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind poll of 834 registered voters statewide was conducted from July 20 through July 26 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percentage points.

Poll Analysis

Contacts:

Bruce Larson 973.443.8727

Peter Woolley 973.670.3239

Radio actuality line: (201) 692-2846.

For more information, please call (201) 692-7032.