New Jersey Republicans not alone in election denial, poll says

New Jersey rank-and-file Republicans’ denial of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump is no exception, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday.

That poll found 77% of Republicans believed there was widespread voter fraud in last month’s elections. The same percentage of New Jersey GOP voters said they believed Trump won the election in a Change Research poll commissioned by Project Ready, a Newark-based non-profit, reported exclusively by the New Jersey Globe Wednesday.

Almost one-fifth, 19%, of Republicans told Quinnipiac they did not believe there was widespread fraud. Almost all Democrats, 97%, and 62% of independents said the same.

The largest share of respondents, 40%, said Trump was a bad president, while 11% said he was only a not-so-good one. A little less than a fifth, 19%, said he was a good president, while 28% said he was a great one.

But most voters, 56%, are optimistic about a Biden presidency, and the same number feel he will do more to unite the country than Trump did. Still, 37% said they were pessimistic about the incoming administration, and 39% believed a Biden White House would leave the country more divided.

Just 25% of voters said they were very or somewhat satisfied with the state of the nation, while 71% said they were somewhat or very dissatisfied. Almost half of voters, 46%, agreed with the latter.