President Joe Biden has upside-down job approval ratings in New Jersey, a state he won by sixteen percentage points in 2020, a new Monmouth University Poll shows.
The poll puts Biden’s job approvals at 45%-50% seven months before the mid-term elections, where one Democratic congressman is in trouble and up to three more incumbents face real challenges.
Biden is at 37%-54% among independents and Democrats give him job approvals of 79%-19%.
Republicans intensely disapprove of Biden (7%-92%), perhaps a signal that GOP voters might overperform in November, as they did in the closer-than-expected 2021 gubernatorial race in a state with more than a million more Democrats than Republicans.
“New Jersey is fundamentally a blue state,” said Patrick Murray, the director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “The fact that Biden is doing so poorly here suggests he has lost enthusiasm among core constituencies in his own base.”
The President is at 39%-53% among men and 50%-46% among women. He’s upside down among residents 18-34 (40%-48%) and ages 35-54 (44%-41%), but he’s at 50%-48% among New Jerseyans over the age of 55. Biden is significantly upside-down among white residents (42%-56%), but New Jerseyans of color approve of him by a 51%-49% margin. He’s also upside-down among residents with no college degree (41%-54%), but does better, 51%-42%, among college-educated New Jerseyans.
Biden is fourteen points under-water, 39%-53%, in South Jersey, but his numbers improve in Central Jersey (49%-46%) and North Jersey (46%-49%).
Among registered voters, Biden is at 47%-49%.
The Monmouth University Poll was conducted from March 31 to April 4, 2022 with a sample size of 802 New Jersey adults and a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.