Gov. Phil Murphy leads Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli by 9 percentage points, 50%-41%, according to a Stockton University Poll released Wednesday.
The poll of 522 likely voters was conducted was conducted for the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University recently (Sept. 17-25), but obviously does not include any impact from the first debate between the candidates Tuesday night.
A bigger takeaway may be this: More people feel the state is headed in the wrong direction (45.5%) as opposed to the right direction (44.3%).
In the spring, those who said the state was headed in right direction easily won the question, 49%-40%. This was worrisome to John Froonjian, director of the Hughes Center.
“Even though this result is a statistical tie, an incumbent wants more people feeling good about how things are going in the state,” he said.
Here are other interesting polling notes:
Masking/vaccines
- Masks in schools: 58%-37% support;
- Mandatory vaccination for companies with 100-plus employees: 56%-44% support;
- Required to enter public venues: 50%-46% oppose.
Who would be better …
- Combating pandemic: Murphy, 50%-34%
- State tax policy: Ciattarelli, 46%-38%;
- Managing state economy: Ciattarelli, 43%-42%
