When it comes to likeability, New Jersey’s current and former elected officials leave a lot to be desired, Garden State residents say, in an inaugural joint survey from the polling units at Rutgers University’s Eagleton Institute of Politics and Fairleigh Dickinson University.

The survey finds that not a single politician scores a favorable majority with Garden State residents.

Almost one in five have no opinion on Gov. Phil Murphy – down considerably from the fall but still sizable for a sitting governor. Those who take a side, however, are more favorable than unfavorable toward him (43 percent to 37 percent).

The state’s two Democratic senators, Cory Booker and Robert Menendez, generate disparate levels of support. Almost half have a favorable impression of Booker (46 percent), while 32 percent have an unfavorable one; 20 percent have no opinion (see prior Rutgers-Eagleton and FDU results).

Menendez, on the other hand, pales in comparison to his colleague: 21 percent are favorable toward him, 47 percent are unfavorable, and 29 percent have no opinion. Even his Democratic constituents are not rallying to his side in large numbers, with about equal numbers favoring as disfavoring the senator (33 percent to 36 percent).

Even fewer take a stance on state Senate President Steve Sweeney, with 46 percent offering no opinion, and 19 percent unsure of who he is; among those who do, 13 percent are favorable, and 21 percent are unfavorable. This ambivalence toward Sweeney is nothing new. Despite the power he yields in the state, few recognize him enough to offer an opinion (see prior Rutgers-Eagleton and FDU results).

Murphy and Booker appear to be doing as well as politicians can in New Jersey, as the only personalities discussed in this poll with numbers that are right side up.

New Jerseyans view President Donald Trump and former Gov. Chris Christie much more unfavorably. A fifth (21 percent) have a favorable opinion of the former governor; slightly more say the same about the president (30 percent).

Pollsters contacted 1,203 adults between March 7 and 22, 2019, 621 of received calls on both landlines and cell phones and 582 through an online probability-based panel. The combined sample has a margin of error of +/-3.7 percentage points. They conducted interviews in English and, when requested, Spanish. The full analysis, along with the poll’s questions and tables, can be found on the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll website and the FDU Poll website.

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