N.J. Voters Liked Christie More Than They Do Murphy by This Time

(Bloomberg) -- Governor Phil Murphy’s approval rating trails that for Chris Christie, his Republican predecessor, as residents see little sign of the “stronger, fairer” New Jersey they were promised, according to a Monmouth University poll.

The Democrat has 41% approval to 38% disapproval, the poll showed. Christie in August 2011 had 48% approval to 42% disapproval. He left office in January 2018 as the least popular governor in New Jersey history and a failed presidential candidate scarred by the George Washington Bridge traffic-jam scandal orchestrated by some of his aides and allies.

Murphy, a retired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. senior director and former U.S. ambassador to Germany, skewed negative on boosting the middle class and controlling the nation’s highest property taxes, areas on which he had campaigned. More than a third said Murphy had no real accomplishments.

“At this point in his term, Christie had made a big splash with pension reform and his approval ratings were clearly on the rise,” Patrick Murray, the poll’s director, said in a statement. “Murphy does not have anything similarly flashy that has made New Jerseyans sit up and take notice.”

One in five said they had no opinion of the governor.

On property taxes, just 10% said Murphy had a positive impact, while 39% answered in the negative, and 33% expressed no opinion. On the middle class, 17% said he had helped, and 31% said he had hurt, while most said he had no impact.

The poll, of 713 adults from Sept. 12-16, had an error margin of 3.7 percentage points.

To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at eyoung30@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Michael B. Marois

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