Poll: Christie's on Right Track

Good news for Gov. Chris Christie. Not only do a majority of New Jersey residents have a favorable few of the governor in the latest ’s PublicMind poll, his numbers are up a healthy bit since last year.

Read FDU's full statement on the poll, and take our own poll at the bottom of this post to let us know what you think:

New Jerseyans, for the second survey in a row, say the state is headed in the right direction, a phenomenon not seen in eleven years of polling by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind™. According to the most recent statewide survey, 50% say the state is headed in the right direction, while 41% say it’s on the wrong track. However, public employees do disagree: 50% of public employee households say the state is on the wrong track.

“This spring has not been marred by the same depth of bad feeling about funding schools as in past years,” said Peter Woolley, director of the poll. “Typically, spring means fights over school budgets followed by even more fights over the state’s next budget.”

A majority, 51% of voters, say they have a favorable view of Gov. Chris Christie, including 29% of voters in the opposite party. Only 37% of Garden State voters say their view of him is unfavorable. A year ago in May, Christie’s “favorables” were reversed, 40% favorable and 45 unfavorable.

In fact, 49% say he’s doing a “good” or “excellent” job, including 28% of Democrats who agree.  “The good news is obvious,” said Woolley. “The bad news may be that, historically, the only way to go from here is down.”

At the same time, 56% of voters say they approve of the job the governor is doing, a new high for PublicMind polling of the governor’s performance: 33% disapprove. A year ago in May, the governor only broke even, with 44% approving and 44% disapproving.

Women approve by a margin of 9 points (48-39), and men by the much more robust margin of 37 points (64-27).  Public employees disapprove of the governor (35-52), but non-public employees approve by a 2-to-1 margin (60-29).

The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of 797 registered voters statewide was conducted by telephone with both landline and cell phones from April 30 through May 6, 2012, and has a margin of error of +/-3.5 percentage points.