More than half of New Jerseyans (53%) said they might be more likely to remain in New Jersey as a result of Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin’s StayNJ senior property tax reduction plan, according to a new Monmouth Poll released today.
But 64% of voters say they haven’t heard anything about the program to cut property taxes in half for most senior citizen homeowners, and 45% say the new law approved last year won’t impact their decision. Property taxes remain the top issue in New Jersey: 40% of voters listed it as one of the top two issues, followed by the economy (23%), illegal immigration (17%), and education (10%).
The influence of StayNJ on voters staying in New Jersey is evenly distributed along party lines.
“Hypotheticals in polling have to be taken with a grain of salt. However, these results suggest that the Stay NJ program will have at least some success meeting its goal of retaining a good number of senior homeowners who would otherwise leave the state,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “It’s worth noting that it will also have an impact on homeowners at the lower end of the income scale who don’t plan to leave because it is simply not an option for them.”
More than one-third of New Jersey voters (35%) view New Jersey as an excellent state to live in, and 42%) say it’s good; 17% think it’s a fair place to live, and 6% ranked it poorly.
Most voters (76%) rated the quality of the state’s environment as excellent or good, and 63% said their local schools were excellent or good. Nearly all New Jerseyans (95%) said they view their own neighborhood as safe.
Still, 47% of voters say they might move out of New Jersey, while 49% indicated they plan to stay. The number planning to leave is 60% among Republicans and 57% among independents. Nearly three-quarters of the state (73%) expressed concern that they won’t have enough money for retirement.
“Take New Jersey’s already high cost of living and add inflationary pressures to it,” Murray said. “This may not be driving out more people than in the past, but it certainly isn’t helping to reduce out-migration.”
The poll’s annual Quality of Life Index is at +24, up one point from August 2023. Since Murray launched the Quality of Life Index in 2010 at +21, the high water mark was +37 in April 2020, and the low point was +13 in February 2019.
The Monmouth University poll was conducted from February 29 to March 4, with a sample size of 757 registered voters and a margin of error of +/—4.3%.