Murphy approvals at 44%-39% in new FDU poll

Sixteen months into his second term, Gov. Phil Murphy has approval ratings of 44%-39%, according to a new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released today.

New Jerseyans show some signs of Murphy fatigue as Democrats head into the 2023 mid-term legislative election.  Murphy was at 48%-36% in a February FDU poll.   A poll from Monmouth University in January, at the start of his sixth year in office, had his approvals at 52%-36%.

Among independents, Murphy is at 40%-42%; he remains popular with Democrats (75%-9%), and just as unpopular with Republicans (14%-77%).

Still, Murphy remains more popular than Republican Chris Christie was at roughly the same point in his governorship.  Christie was upside-down at 30%-55% in a June 2015 FDU poll.

A June 1999 Quinnipiac University poll set job approvals for New Jersey’s Republican governor, Christine Todd Whitman, at 55%-37% about midway through her sixth year in office.  In the same poll, former Gov. Jim Florio, whom Whitman ousted in 1993, still had upside-down favorables (25%-34%).  Whitman and Florio were both seeking an open U.S. Senate seat at the time.

Murphy is the first two-term Democratic governor since Brendan Byrne, who was elected in 1973 and 1977.

The poll was conducted between April 28 and May 6 with a sample size of 716 adult New Jersey residents and had a sample size of +/- 3.5%.