Rutgers

An Eagleton-Rutgers poll shows the state's $400 million bond referendum in a statistical dead heat among likely voters, with 43% opposed to passage and 41% prepared to vote yes.  These numbers are substantially different from a Monmouth University/Gannett poll released earlier this week showing support for the ballot initiative at 55%-32%.

"It is rare to see such significant differences in two polls taken at nearly the same time," said David Redlawsk, director of the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.  In this case, however, the difference is in the way the question was asked. When voters are cued to the idea that a bond issue means borrowing money they are far less supportive than when simply told that bonds will be issued."

The Eagleton question: "Voters will decide whether New Jersey should borrow $400 million to preserve open space, farmland, and historic areas. Do you plan to vote for or against borrowing this money?" Other polls have asked voters simply if they support "bonding" for open space without specifying that bonding means borrowing money."

"There is no right or wrong way to ask this question," said Redlawsk. "Voters are clearly very sensitive to the idea of borrowing money in a recession. At the same time, New Jersey voters have generally been supportive efforts to protect open space. Placed against each other, these differing results show that the outcome will depend on how voters view the question when they enter the voting booth."

Voters in major urban areas support the bond issue, 48%-35%, while South Jersey and shore area voters oppose it 51%-35%.  Suburban and rural voters are split, 42%-40%.

"Perhaps not surprisingly, those who live in the most densely populated parts of the state are generally in favor of this referendum, while those in the least populated areas are clearly opposed, at least when they are reminded that bond issues require borrowing money," said Redlawsk.

The race for Governor is a statistical tie, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released this morning showing Gov. Jon Corzine leading Republican Christopher Christie 39%-36% among likely voters, with 20% for independent Christopher Daggett.  The margin of error is +/- 4%.

Corzine is running third among independents, with 27%; Christie leads Daggett 35%-31%.

"While Jon Corzine has made up a lot of ground in all the polls since last summer, he has not done it by increasing his support. Instead, Chris Christie has lost support as some voters who are opposed to Corzine have become attracted to Chris Daggett," said David Redlawsk, director of the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll. "Even so, it is important to note that Corzine's lead in this poll is within the margin of error and if the election were today, the winner would be the candidate who can best rally his troops. We don't know now who that will be."

Corzine has upside-down favorables of 40%-52% and Christie is upside down, 39%-42%.  Dagget is at 31%-15%.  But more than half of the likely voters polled are unfamiliar with Daggett.

The poll shows Corzine benefits by increased support for Daggett, who appears to be taking votes from Christie.  When asked how they would vote in a two-way race, 37% of Daggett supporters say they did not know or might not vote; 34% went for Christie and 28% for Corzine.

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON CAMPAIGNS IN SUPPORT
OF CORZINE/WEINBERG & DEMOCRATS ACROSS NJ

42nd President of the United States Headlined Rallies
in Collingswood & New Brunswick To Energize Voters
Prior to Election Day

(NEW BRUNSWICK) – President Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States of America, today headlined two rallies in support of Governor Jon S. Corzine, Lieutenant Governor candidate Loretta Weinberg and Democrats running for office throughout New Jersey.

Gov. Richard Hughes

The #1 process issue of the 1965 campaign for Governor of New Jersey was over a Rutgers University professor who was a self-professed Marxist.  The GOP nominee, State Sen. Wayne Dumont (R-Phillipsburg) sought to hold Democratic Gov. Richard Hughes accountable for refusing to call for the firing of Prof. Eugene Genovese.

During an April '65 teach-in on the Vietnam War, Genovese told students: "Those of you who know me know that I am a Marxist and a Socialist.  Therefore, unlike most of my distinguished colleagues here this morning, I do not fear or regret the impending Vietcong victory in Vietnam.  I welcome it."

Hughes called Genovese's comments offensive, but declined to get involved in the politics of calling for the termination of a state university professor.  Dumont demanded that Genovese be fired, and said that the Rutgers teach-ins were "part and parcel of an organized conspiracy to undermine our position in Vietnam."

Dumont spent the next three months seeking to link the governor to the Rutgers issue, even going as far as to suggest that Hughes did not understand the danger of communism.  But the Warren County Republican stopped short of saying that Hughes was soft on communism. 

Hughes accused Dumont of politicizing dead American soldiers in Vietnam, and said that his Republican rival was an extremist.  "By using for his own little political gain the individual tragedies of young men dead in Vietnam, in what can only be called a kind of ‘vampire politics,' my opponent has opened a Pandora's box for the extremists of this state and nation," Hughes said.

Pollsters got it wrong the last two times a Democratic Governor ran for re-election:  an August 1993 Eagleton-Rutgers poll had Gov. James Florio leading Republican Christine Todd Whitman by nine points, 49%-40%; and Republican Raymond Bateman led Gov. Brendan Byrne by seven points, 46%-39%, in an August 1977 Eagleton-Rutgers poll.

In 1993, Florio had a favorable/unfavorable rating of 49%-40%.  31% rated his job as excellent or good, 36% said he was a fair governor, and 23% rated him as poor.

In 1977, 28% of New Jerseyans viewed Byrne as an excellent or good governor, 39% considered him fair, and 29% said he was doing a poor job.

Whitman beat Florio 49%-48%, and Byrne was re-elected by a 56%-42% margin over Bateman.

Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine trails Republican Christopher Christie by 12 points, 53%-41%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.  Christie is the first Republican to be over 50% in a summer poll since Thomas Kean ran for re-election 24 years ago.

Corzine has upside-down favorables/unfavorables of 34%-58%, and an upside-down job approval rating of 33%-60%. 

In his bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate, Democrat Robert Torricelli had upside-down favorable/unfavorable rating of 15%-36% and an upside-down job approval rating of 28%-49% in an August 2002 Quinnipiac poll. In an August 2008 Quinnipiac poll, President George W. Bush had an upside-down job approval rating of 26%-70%.

19 Year Old College Student Forms Exploratory Committee to Run for City Council at Large in Atlantic City

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Atlantic City, NJ - Today, Atlantic City resident Dafiq Rasheed announced that he has formed an exploratory committee to consider entering the race for City Council at Large. Mr. Rasheed, a political science major at Rutgers University in Camden would be the youngest Councilman in Atlantic City's history at the age of 19. He is a lifelong resident of the 2nd Ward in Atlantic City and respected on the national political scene, most notably for his work on Democratic campaigns.

A strong advocate for youth, Dafiq Rasheed was awarded the Fannie Lou Hamer, Ordinary People, and Extraordinary Deeds Award by Councilman Gene Robinson in February of 2007 for his work in the community. Dafiq successfully completed the Ephren Taylor Entrepreneurship Program at Cheney University in 2007 and is an alumnus of the prestigious Presidential Classroom in Washington, DC.   Mr. Rasheed is no stranger to history, having been elected to the School Board as the student member at the age of 16.  

"I am currently seeking the support of voters, meeting with politicians, professors, and consultants throughout the country, and fundraising before I make an official announcement." said the Rutgers student. 

"I take this decision neither lightly nor flippantly, but with full faith in the possibilities of a better tomorrow. My candidacy will be filled with the purpose of advocating for our youngest people and our eldest. These are two constituencies that deserve a voice in the Council Chambers. My principled leadership on issues like spending, the elimination of corruption, and a spotlight on public safety will be the hallmark of my tenure in City Hall." 

 "Over the next couple of weeks, I look forward to meeting supporters from all six wards to make this decision," continued Rasheed.  "I have been blessed with the response that I have been getting from the citizens, my family, and friends.  I look forward to continuing my education at Rutgers and serving my community no matter what decision I make."

Getty Images Photo

President Bush now has lower approval ratings in New Jersey than Richard Nixon did in May 1974, three months before he resigned the presidency

George W. Bush’s job approval ratings among New Jersey voters is at the lowest point in his presidency.  A new Quinnipiac University poll has Bush at an upside-down 18%-78%, worse than his 22%-75% numbers in a June poll.  Bush is now upside-down among Republicans, 45%-48%.  And in heavily Republican northwestern New Jersey, which includes Morris, Hunterdon, Somerset, Sussex and Warren counties, the 43rd president is at an upside-down 24%-71%.  Among African Americans, Bush's positive job approval does not register; his negative is at 95%.

In New Jersey, Bush is now less popular than Richard Nixon was three months before his 1974 resignation.  An Eagleton-Rutgers poll had Nixon’s job approval at 19%-76%.

A new Quinnipiac University poll gives President George W. Bush has an upside-down 26%-70% disapproval rating among New Jersey voters, who say (62%-34%) that going to war in Iraq was the wrong thing to do.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak doesn’t have as much trouble with a deal to keep Rutgers football coach Greg Schiano as he does with the “secrecy and lack of transparency” that surrounds the deal.  “Rutgers University, as the state's flagship higher education university, has an obligation to be accessible and accountable not only to the students attending the school but to the taxpaying public that subsidizes most of its operations,” Lesniak wrote in an op-ed that appeared in The Star-Ledger.  “In the case of Schiano's contract, not only should the terms have been disclosed, but they should have been touted by an administration seeking to find cost-effective ways to increase the national profile of Rutgers football. “  Click here to read Lesniak’s Op-Ed.