‘MAGA movement’ generally unpopular in N.J., per Rutgers poll

President Donald Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again” may have made huge headway in New Jersey in last year’s presidential election, but a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released today finds that the president’s efforts may not be so popular among the state’s voters anymore.

According to the poll, which was conducted between July 31 and August 11, 51% of likely voters in this November’s gubernatorial election oppose the “MAGA movement” – and 46% of them strongly oppose it. 36% of likely voters support the movement (21% of them strongly), and 13% said they neither support nor oppose it.

The MAGA movement is, predictably, wildly unpopular among Democrats (4%-90%) and equally wildly popular among Republicans (87%-3%), with independents more split at 30% approve, 46% disapprove. Men, white voters, and older voters – three groups that lean more conservative – were more likely to say they supported the movement than women, nonwhite voters, and younger voters.

“Historically, moderation and center-right policy have often been a winning ticket for Republicans in New Jersey, but today, both GOP voters and candidates in the state appear to have aligned themselves with the national MAGA brand,” Eagleton Center director Ashley Koning said in a statement accompanying the poll release. “Even about a quarter of independents express some level of support for the movement, a critical group for Republican Jack Ciattarelli if he hopes to cross the finish line in November.”

The question on the MAGA movement was part of a larger poll Rutgers-Eagleton conducted earlier this month, one that also included a head-to-head test of the general election between Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) and former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli (R-Somerville). Sherrill posted a 44% to 35% lead, a result that Rutgers-Eagleton released last week.

Today’s polling release included a breakdown of those results based on respondents’ answers to the MAGA movement question. Those who oppose the MAGA movement break for Sherrill 82%-1%, and those who support it go for Ciattarelli 81%-2%; Ciattarelli also leads 40%-12% among the relatively small number of respondents who neither support nor oppose it.

The Rutgers-Eagleton poll was conducted from July 31 to August 11 with a sample size of 1,650 likely general election voters and a margin of error of /- 3.7%.