Gov. Mikie Sherrill has a job approval rating of 44%-34%, according to a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll released this morning that shows high marks for how she handled the event surrounding Dale Caldwell’s resignation as the state’s lieutenant governor.
But the more important number, at least for the next five weeks heading into the midterm election, is President Donald Trump’s upside-down favorables in New Jersey: 24%-66%. Among independents, Trump is at 13%-72%. He’s significantly upside down in every region of New Jersey, including the western part of the state where the 7th congressional district is located.
That’s roughly the same as an October 1973 Rutgers-Eagleton poll conducted just before the Saturday Night Massacre that put Richard Nixon at 27%-70% in New Jersey. Trump’s unfav
The poll puts Sherrill’s favorables at 39%-31%; she’s at 34%-28% among independents.
Nearly 70% of New Jerseyans said Sherrill did well in conducting an internal investigation that led to Caldwell’s ouster last Friday after a scathing report substantiated allegations of ethics violations and sexual harassment.
“New Jerseyans are largely giving Sherrill credit for how she has responded to a problem inside her own administration,” said Ashley Koning, the director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University.
The question changed between Thursday evening, after the internal report was released, and Caldwell’s resignation on Friday, but the change in events only marginally affected the poll.
“She brought in an outside investigator and then called publicly for her own lieutenant governor to resign, and most residents read that as accountability rather than protecting her own or politics as usual,” Koning stated. “It’s a continuation of Sherrill’s themes of transparency and responsibility that began on the campaign trail and have been emphasized throughout her first year.”
Caldwell has maintained his innocence.
Still, more residents (43%) said the state has gone off on the wrong track, while 37% said New Jersey was going in the right direction.
Since the last Rutgers-Eagleton poll in April, Sherrill has remained steady: she had job approvals of 45%-29% after her first ten weeks in office, and favorables of 44%-29%. Since that poll, Sherrill has passed her first state budget, survived the FIFA World Cup, and dealt with a massive voter registration controversy.
“Nine months into her term, Gov. Sherrill’s approval numbers look much like they did at 100 days, which in this political climate — and after a challenging summer — is itself an accomplishment,” Koning said. “But a quarter of residents still have no opinion of her almost a year in, and how those New Jerseyans eventually break will decide whether her net positive ratings hold.”
Sherrill has a 69%-10% approval rating among Democrats and 13%-79% among Republicans; she’s at 46%-36% among men and 43%-32% among women. She is at 40%-42% among white residents, 54%-165% among Blacks, and 48%-22% among Hispanics.
Her numbers are similar to her predecessor, Democrat Phil Murphy, in a Rutgers-Eagleton poll conducted in November 2018: his job approvals were 43%-28%, and his favorables were 33%-24%.
In an October 2018 poll by Rutgers-Eagleton, Trump’s job approvals among likely voters in New Jersey were 41%-56%, and his favorables were 37%-56%. Democrats flipped four House seats in the state that year.
The Caldwell question explained the issue to residents who may not have been familiar with it: “Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell was the subject of an internal investigation by Governor Sherrill’s office for alleged inappropriate behavior with women and possible ethics violations, including the alleged offer of state jobs. The Sherrill administration brought in a former New Jersey Attorney General to conduct the inquiry, which found that Caldwell violated state ethics policies. Caldwell has denied the allegations. Governor Sherrill has called on him to resign, which he did on September 25th, 2026. How well do you think Governor Sherrill is handling this situation?”
The Rutgers-Eagleton poll faced sharp criticism last fall when it showed Sherrill with a five-point lead in the governor’s race against Republican Jack Ciattarelli; Sherrill won that election by fourteen points. That poll, conducted among likely voters, ran from October 3 to 17 and was released on October 22; during that period, both candidates and outside groups spent tens of millions.
In the October 2018 poll, Rutgers-Eagleton showed Democrat Bob Menendez with a four-point lead, 48%-44%, among likely voters in the U.S. Senate race; a week later, Menendez beat Republican Bob Hugin by eleven points.
The Rutgers-Eagleton poll was conducted from September 24-27 with a sample size of 1,004 adults and a margin of error of +/- 4.1%.