Mikie Sherrill wants to make budget cuts, but voters don’t like their options, poll says

Gov. Mikie Sherrill faces a $3 billion budget hole, and she’s signaled her intent to cut costs and get state spending on solid ground. One obstacle in her way? Voters who say they disapprove of most of the options available to balance the budget. 

Fairleigh Dickinson University poll results released Wednesday morning showed registered voters in the state largely disapprove of most budget-balancing options presented to them.

Just 40% support reducing aid for higher education, and an even slimmer 26% support a reduction in state aid for local schools. Just 26% support not making a full payment into the teacher pension system, and only 33% would support cuts to NJ Transit. Except for a slight decrease in higher education aid, these options did not appear in Sherrill’s budget proposal.

Almost half of those polled — 47% — said they would support charging businesses whose employees are on state healthcare. Sherrill, in fact, proposed a version of that plan in her March budget address, saying that employers with 50 or more workers on Medicaid would be required to cover their workers or face a fine. She said such a plan would raise $145 million per year.

“Balancing the budget means cutting spending and increasing revenue, and voters don’t tend to like either of those,” said Dan Cassino, the executive director of the FDU Poll. “But some cuts are more acceptable than others, and the governor’s proposal seems to be dodging the least popular options.”

Just 38% of respondents said they would support a cut to senior property-tax rebates, while 61% would oppose such a proposal. The opposition to such a cut comes as Sherrill has asked legislators to trim Stay NJ, a senior tax-relief program heralded by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin. Sherrill’s plan would lower the income cap for eligibility and lower the maximum benefit cap, adjustments that she said would save the state $500 million a year while not affecting seniors who truly need the relief.

In fact, just one of the budget-balancing options in the poll received majority support: a proposal to “cut funding for the Rutgers football team.”

An NJ.com report found that Rutgers’ athletics program received $42.1 million in direct state support during former Gov. Phil Murphy’s eight-year term, or a little more than $5 million per year. (The program received more subsidized support from the University and student fees.) But Sherrill said she’s aiming to eliminate the state’s $3 billion structural deficit in the coming years — cutting Rutgers athletics subsidies would fill just a tiny fraction of that hole, especially compared with the hundreds of millions in cuts she’s proposing to other programs.

“At a time when belts are tightening everywhere, it’s hard to justify tax dollars being spent to support a college football team,” Cassino said. “But voters might be happier about the subsidies if they were winning more games.”

The poll found Republicans are more likely to support cutting state spending. A little more than 40% would cut spending for NJ Transit, 59% support reducing aid for higher education, and 33% support cutting funding for local schools. Only 25%, 26%, and 25% support those respective cuts.

Democrats, meanwhile, are more likely to support Sherrill’s employer-Medicare fee plan; 51% of Democrats support the proposal compared to 41% of Republicans.

The same poll found Sherrill’s job approval rating stands at 58%.

The Fairleigh Dickson University Poll was conducted between March 20-28 with a sample size of 805 registered voters and a margin of error of +/- 3.4%.