Background Memo  

The most recent survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind was conducted by telephone from July 12 to July 19 using a randomly selected sample of 600 registered, likely voters statewide aged 18 and over.  The sampling error for 800 adults is +/- 4 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence. Sampling error is greater for subsets. Survey results are also subject to non-sampling error. This kind of error, which cannot be measured, arises from a number of factors including, but not limited to, non-response (eligible individuals refusing to be interviewed), question wording, the order in which questions are asked, and variations among interviewers. All PublicMind interviews are conducted by TMR, Inc. of Cedar Knolls, NJ.  Professionally trained interviewers use a CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) system. Random selection >is achieved through computerized random-digit dialing. This technique gives every person with a phone number (including those with unlisted numbers) an equal chance of being selected.

The questions included in this release are as follows:

Question:  If the election for Governor of New Jersey were held right now, and you had to make a choice, which of the following …or …  would you vote for?

• Jon Corzine, the Democratic candidate
• Doug Forrester, the Republican candidate

Question: On the issue of abortion, would you describe yourself as …. or …?

• pro-life
• pro-choice

Question: On the issue of guns, would you describe yourself as … or …?

• pro-gun ownership
• pro-gun control

Question: What issue do you think should be the top priority of candidates running for Governor this year?

• Property Taxes
• Corruption
• Health Care
• A Prosperous Economy
• Security from Terror Attacks
• Suburban Sprawl and the Environment
• other

Question: And what should be the next highest priority?

• Property Taxes
• Corruption
• Health Care
• A Prosperous Economy
• Security from Terror Attacks
• Suburban Sprawl and the Environment
• other

Question: Which candidate for governor… or … is best described by…?

• Honest, trustworthy
• Can get the job done for New Jersey?
• Understands the concerns of the average person
• Has the background and experience to be a good governor
• Negative campaignerIndependent of the party bosses and large campaign contributors

Question: This November in New Jersey there will also be an election for the state assembly. If that election were held today, do you think you'd be voting for the … or …. candidates

• Republican
• Democrat

Question: How would you rate the job the state legislature in Trenton is doing  is doing—excellent, good, only fair, or poor?

Question: Some people have suggested that the best way to keep property taxes under control is to make changes in the state constitution.  How much have you read or heard about holding a Constitutional Convention that would propose changes to control property taxes…?

• Quite a lot
• Some
• A little
• Nothing at all

Question: Do you think it's a good idea or a bad idea for New Jersey to have a Constitutional Convention to try to deal with property taxes?

Question: Some people say a Constitutional Convention for New Jersey needs to focus only on taxes and should not get sidetracked dealing with other issues. Others say a Constitutional Convention should deal with issues that affect state spending as well as the property tax issue.  Which comes closest to your position?

Focus only on taxes

Deal with other issues that affect state spending

see also:
Survey Analysis
Thigpen's Analysis
Salmore's Analysis
Tabular Results