READ FULL STORY HEREOne of the more reliable pollsters in the business, Quinnipiac, today released their survey results on a host of data coming in from Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Focusing mostly on Ed Rendell, the recently resolved budget impasse in Pennsylvania and the New Jersey Governor’s race below is a list of some of their key findings.
1) Scattered field of Democrats, Corbett still well ahead in Pa. Governor’s race
The 2010 Governor’s race in Pennsylvania is shaping up to be a competitive one on the Democratic side whereas Tom Corbett is still the heavy favorite for Republicans. Five Democratic candidates currently share 50% of the support from Pennsylvanians but a large number (46%) remain undecided. Dan Onorato is the front-runner at 14% with Joe Hoeffel and Jack Wagner trailing closely behind at 12% and 11% respectively. Only two legitimate contenders are currently on the GOP radar and Tom Corbett continues to outpace Jim Gerlach by a wide 42-13% margin. 43% remain undecided however.
2) Governor Rendell’s approval up slightly, still decidedly negative
Pennsylvanians may be relieved by the end of the state’s budget crisis but their blame of the Governor and leaders over the impasse persists. Last month Ed Rendell’s approval rating plummeted to 39% against 53% who disapproved – far and away his worst ever figures. Now at the end of September we see a slight improvement to 42-51% for the Governor. Never the less Pennsylvanians continue to give Rendell harsh grades on his handling of the state budget (26%) and the overall economy (34%). More disapprove (37%) than approve (31%) of the current budget agreement worked out by the Governor and state legislature.
3) Criticism of state legislature persists even after budget resolution
Neither Governor Rendell nor the Pennsylvania state legislature can claim momentum coming out of their recent budget agreement. Just 27% of Key Stone State voters now approve of the legislature with a record high 64% now disapproving of how they are handling their job. More blame the legislature than the Governor for the long struggle to get a budget a passed although 30% think they share equally in the blame. Republicans are being blamed more than Democrats working in the legislature (21-9%) for the current budget woes.
4) Pennsylvania’s growing slightly more dissatisfied with the way things are going
Asked how they feel things are going in their state overall a majority of Pennsylvanians polled continue to show their dissatisfaction. Just two-percent of voters are “very” satisfied with the current state of affairs in Pa. against 23% who claim to be very dissatisfied. There is almost an even number of those near the middle who are somewhat satisfied (37%) or somewhat dissatisfied (36%) with the recent happenings from their home state. This is the most negative assessment yet since Quinnipiac has been polling Pennsylvanians on the question, down from a record high of 68% of voters who were at least somewhat satisfied with events in their state from June of 2002.
5) Most Pennsylvanians relieved over passing of budget, evenly divided on spending
It seems that most Pennsylvanians are simply relieved to finally have a state budget passed, regardless of it being a potentially flawed agreement. 57% state-wide consider themselves relieved against 33% who think both sides should have kept hammering out the details regardless of how long it took to complete. In the Philadelphia area that included 68% of voters relieved. On the topic of spending a nearly identical 43% think more cuts should have been made and 44% believe that it would have been at the risk of vital state services. 58% of Republicans were in favor of cuts with 59% of Democrats agreeing to keep current spending levels. Independents were closely divided 47-42%.
6) Governor Corzine closing the gap against Christie
Although recent polls like that from
Rasmussen Reports show a mostly stable race between the two candidates Quinnipiac’s latest survey now has Governor Jon Corzine trailing by just four-points in New Jersey. Perhaps the influence of Christopher Daggett now polling at 12% has taken a toll on Republican Chris Christie. Corzine still pulls in just 39% of likely voters in the Garden State but Christie’s drop to 43% is responsible for the narrowing race. A September 1st poll showed a ten-point gap between the two major candidates and Daggett pulling in just 9% of the vote.7) Unfavorable opinions of Chris Christie at a new high
The individual popularity of Republican challenger Chris Christie is starting to show some cracks. His favorable and unfavorable ratings are now even for the first time in the campaign at 38% - another 22% still claim not to know enough about the candidate. 14% of Republicans now hold an unfavorable view of Christie against just 11% of Democrats who view him favorably. Independent voters show a narrow favorable to unfavorable gap of 38-35%. Christie’s popularity has dropped with the results of each poll from the high of a 19% plus favorable rating in July, to 16% in August, 11% earlier this month and now dead even as we head into October.
8) No change in Governor Corzine’s anemic favorable ratings
While Chris Christie is just receiving his first batch of bad news in terms of public perception Governor Corzine has been mired with negativity for quite some time. Little to no change in this latest Quinnipiac poll from earlier in the month shows that just 34% of New Jersey voters have a favorable opinion of Governor against 56% who do not. Alarming for the Governor is the number of independents (61%) who hold an unfavorable view as opposed to those who do have a favorable opinion (29%). Just 36% of Garden State voters approve of the job Corzine is doing, a modest two-point improvement from a month ago.
9) More than twice as many dissatisfied with current state affairs in NJ than satisfied
The pessimism shared by New Jersey voters is both consistent and reaches across political boundaries. Similar to results found in each of their past two state polls Quinnipiac finds just two-percent are “very” satisfied with the way things are going in the Garden State and just 32% are at least somewhat satisfied overall. Only 4% of Democrats and one in a hundred Republicans and independents are very satisfied with the direction of their home state. Over four times as many Democrats than Republicans are at least somewhat satisfied but all three political groups are well over 30% in the number of those claiming to be at least somewhat dissatisfied.
10) President Obama’s approval ratings rebound in New Jersey
Although still down from his rather lofty July numbers when 60% of Garden State voters approved of the President’s job performance Barack Obama has rebounded some in New Jersey. Currently 56% approve of the President up from a low of 51% earlier this month. Those figures include 89% of Democrats, 23% of Republicans and a 50-44% approval to disapproval split of independent voters. Obama’s minor surge in New Jersey over the past month may have something to do with the improving performance of Governor Corzine who has hitched much of his political wagon to the President’s agenda.
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