70% of New Jerseyans want Menendez to resign, poll says

Following his indictment on bribery and conspiracy charges – and for acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, 70% of New Jerseyans want Bob Menendez to resign his seat in the United States Senate, a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released this morning shows.

For Menendez, the son of Cuban immigrants, the worst part may be the loss of confidence from Hispanic residents of his home state: 71% of Hispanics think he should resign, and just 15% say he should serve the remainder of his term.

He’s also lost support from his own party, with 71% of Democrats saying he should resign and 16% telling him to stay.

“Menendez has been able to weather charges in the past,” said the FDU poll director, Dan Cassino.  “But this time, it just doesn’t seem like he has any real support left.”

Indeed, there is no good news for Menendez in the FDU poll.

Independents (71%-16%), Republicans (80%-12%), senior citizens (76%-16%), Whites (74%-15%), Blacks, Asians (58%-19%), and people ages 30 and under (66%-15%) want him gone.

Menendez’s team criticized the survey.

“The FDU poll is fundamentally flawed – reflecting the reality that the public has only seen a limited set of facts presented by the prosecution to be as salacious as possible,” said his spokesperson, Jennifer Morrill. “Once the truth is known and the real facts are presented, the polling will change once the senator is found innocent.”

But Menendez’s indictment has not taken hold as an issue in the November 7 campaign for control of the New Jersey Legislature.

“Republicans have been hoping that they could tar the whole New Jersey state Democratic Party with Menendez,” Cassino stated.  “But voters don’t seem to be buying it.”

Still, when independents are not informed about Menendez’s indictment before a generic ballot test, independents break to Democratic legislative candidates by six points (18%-12%), with 51% still undecided.  When primed about the senator’s legal woes, independents flip by eight points to favor GOP Senate and Assembly contenders by a statistically insignificant 20%-18% margin, with 53% remaining unsure.

“Thinking about Menendez makes less partisan voters more likely to say that they’re going to vote Republican,” Cassino explained.  “The question is whether those voters are going to bother to show up in what’s normally a very low turnout election.”

The indictment of a sitting U.S. Senator – just the third time in 43 years — doesn’t seem to faze New Jerseyans.

A May 2023 FDU poll found that 80% of New Jersey residents said the state’s politicians were at least a little corrupt.  In a poll taken after Menendez’s second federal indictment, the number has gone up four points: 20% say they are a little corrupt, 38% view them as somewhat corrupt, and 26% believe they’re very corrupt.

“It seems like a degree of corruption is already baked into how New Jersey voters see their elected officials,” said Cassino. “Jersey voters think politicians are so corrupt that criminal charges against a sitting senator just don’t move the needle.”

This poll mirrors a May 1981 Rutgers-Eagleton survey taken after U.S. Senator Harrison Williams was convicted for stuffing his pockets with cash during an FBI sting operation known as Abscam: 69% of New Jersey voters wanted Wiliams to resign; 19.5% wanted him to remain as he moved through his appelas.  Williams finally resigned on the eve of expulsion in March 1982.

Menendez’s world will likely get worse, not better, at least for the foreseeable future.  He’s already lost his dream job: Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman.

Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman continued to troll Menendez.  According to a report from The Hill, Fetterman and Menendez argued as they rode U.S. Capitol escalators in opposite directions on Tuesday.  Fetterman told Menendez that it was a good day for him to resign; Menendez suggested that he was occupying real estate inside Fetterman’s head.

This fight isn’t going away.

“I’m going to continue bringing it up again and again and again,” Fetterman told reporters.

A majority of Senate Democrats have told Menendez to quit – so has Cory Booker and Gov. Phil Murphy – and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer announced this week that Menendez would not attend a classified briefing on Israel and Gaza; Menendez had already told reporters that would not take part in the briefing.

Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), who is challenging Menendez in the Democratic primary, took a passive agressive tone to contrast himself with the state’s senior senator.

“I’ll be attending a classified briefing on Israel/Gaza tomorrow over in the House,” Kim said on social media.  “It’s important for the people of NJ to have their public servants in the Capitol be able to do the work of our country and to do it with focus and integrity.”

While Menendez continues to flirt with a re-election bid openly, Kim announced on Sunday that he had raised a massive $1.17 million in the third quarter and had a significant $1.9 million warchest with an impressive 12,045 individual donations.

Kim entered the race on September 23, one day after the Justice Department unsealed its first round of indictments against Menendez.  A few days later, a poll paid for by End Citizens United, which backs Kim, showed him leading Menendez., 63%-10%.

“We can stop taking the idea that Menendez would even be a factor — let alone have a chance to win — in next June’s Democratic primary seriously,” Steven Shephard, POLITICO’s senior campaigns and elections editor and chief polling analyst, said on social media last week.

The FDU poll was conducted between October 6-14 with a sample size of 813 adult New Jersey residents and a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.

This story was updated at 2:13 PM with comment from Menendez’s spokesperson.