Gov. Phil Murphy has stable job approval ratings of 46%-40%, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released this morning.
Among Democrats – the constituency that matters most to a term-limited governor whose wife is running for the U.S. Senate – Murphy’s approvals remain high: 79%-7%. He’s upside-down among independents (38%-49%) and Republicans (13%-78%).
But Dan Cassino, the director of the FDU poll, said that Tammy Murphy’s Senate campaign has made the governor less popular among independents and Republicans. Independents gave Murphy a 42%-40% approval rating when asked about his job performance at the start of the poll, but when the question came after the U.S. Senate portion, Murphy went underwater to 32%-61%.
“There also seems to be some resentment about the First Lady’s candidacy, and that could quickly drag the Governor down,” Cassino said.
But Murphy became more popular among Democrats (81%-5%) after being asked about the Senate race; he was at 76%-10% before.
Murphy’s popularity hasn’t changed much in the last year, with 2023 FDU polls putting him at 48%-36% in February, 44%-39% in May, and 44%-37% in October.
“The governor can’t run for re-election, but these numbers still matter,” said Cassino, a professor of Government and Politics at FDU. “High approval ratings give the governor leverage to get things done in Trenton; low approval means legislators may start to ignore him.”
The same poll gives Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) a 32%-20% lead over Murphy among potential Democratic primary voters.
At roughly the same point in his governorship, Republican Chris Christie had job approvals of 30%-61% in an FDU poll released on March 2, 2016. Job approvals for another two-term governor, Republican Christine Todd Whitman, were at 54%-37% in a February 23, 2000 poll by Quinnipiac University.
The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll was conducted from January 21-28 with a sample size of 777 . It has a margin of error of +/- 4.5%. Five Thirty-Eight ranked the FDU poll at 31 out of more than 500 across the U.S.