With the New Jersey Legislature contemplating a controversial bill that would overhaul the state’s Open Public Records Act, a poll released this morning by Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) finds that the changes proposed by the bill are hugely unpopular among New Jersey voters.
Asked whether they supported the proposed OPRA changes, just 14% of respondents said yes, while 81% said they’d rather OPRA stay as it is. The reforms don’t garner more than 25% support from any party, racial group, region, or age cohort.
“It’s rare to see any bill attract this much opposition,” FDU poll director Dan Cassino said in a release accompanying the poll. “Republicans and Democrats, young and old, Black, Hispanic and white: nobody thinks this is a good idea.”
Specifically, the poll asked respondents the following question: “The New Jersey legislature is currently considering a bill that would make it harder for citizens to access public records, and limit what records they can request. Supporters of the bill say that answering public records requests can be a burden on municipalities. Opponents of the bill say that access to public records helps uncover corruption and illegal behavior. What do you think? Should the state limit access to public records, or keep the system as it is?”
Though that’s not necessarily an inaccurate summary of the bill’s contents, its legislative proponents would undoubtedly argue that there are benefits to the bill that go unmentioned by the poll. But Cassino said it’s up to those legislators to inform New Jerseyans and shift public opinion in their favor.
“Supporters of the OPRA overhaul say that if the public knew what was really in the bill, they’d feel differently about it,” Cassino said. “These numbers show that if that’s true, they’re going to have to do a lot of explaining in order to get the public on their side.”
Whether OPRA reform is a make-or-break issue for voters, though, is another question. Every member of the Assembly will next be up for election in 2025, while the Senate won’t be up until 2027; if the OPRA bill does go through, is the issue top-of-mind enough for voters to create real consequences for its legislative supporters?
The Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll was conducted from April 1-8 with a sample size of 809 registered New Jersey voters and a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.