Republican Response

If politics is about winners and losers, then Governor Corzine has, at first glance, won the budget battle.  Whether you agree with his policies or not, he was able to get the sales tax increase he insisted upon and, along the way, convinced the public it was a good idea.  Given how ugly and messy the budget process was, including an unprecedented shutdown of State government, Governor Corzine's various ratings are decent, including a surprising job approval rating of 50% approve and 37% disapprove.

All the news for the Governor, however, is not good.  The right track/wrong track is still horribly upside down at 32%/57% and the longer he is in office the more these numbers will attach to him.  In addition, while the Governor may have won the battle, the war is far from over.  He has raised expectations about dealing with the never-to-be-solved property tax issue, an issue where he will, somewhat ironically, run headlong into his strongest allies in the budget battle, the public employee unions.  In addition, no poll will be able to quantify the level of bad feelings between the Governor and certain key legislators due to the ugliness of the budget process.  Finally, the true measure of the public's reaction to the sales tax increase will come later this year after it has been fully implemented.

All in all, this survey would make me fairly happy if I were the Governor but, truly, there is no victory here to savor.

see also:
Survey Analysis
Democratic Analysis
Tabular Results
Survey Details

Comment by Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind Academic Associate Michael P. Torpey (J.D., Seton Hall University School of Law). Michael is a former Chief of Staff to Governor Christine Todd Whitman and served as New Jersey Director of Campaign Operations for Bush-Cheney '04. Michael Torpey, Esq., can be reached at 609-394-0888.