Gov. Chris Christie publicly criticized Rutgers-Eagleton polls last week, saying they are “never accurate,” but Rutgers-Eagleton Poll Director David Redlawsk told NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider that his organization, which has been in operation for more than 40 years, is credible. Redlawsk also discussed how respondents view Christie in Eagleton polls.
Redlawsk said he and his colleagues are focused on doing the best possible job, no matter what Christie has said. “Polling is a science, but there’s also an art involved. It’s not cut and dry. I typically tell people to not pay a whole lot of attention to any one poll,” he said. “In other words, look at the mass of polls, look at multiple polls and you’ll get a good picture of reality. We’re pretty confident that what we do gives us a good sense of what the public’s thinking.”
While Redlawsk said he always worries about what people think about the polling, he’s confident that Rutgers-Eagleton polls have been reputable and continue to be credible.
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The latest poll found that while more people said they state is moving in the right direction, fewer people said they wanted Christie to serve a second term. Redlawsk said the responses show the mixed view of the governor. “He’s a Republican in a very Democratic state and in that sense maintaining the support of half the public’s not doing too shabby at all,” Redlawsk said. “But right now at this stage in the game he’s got half the folks who like him, half the folks who don’t like him and in that environment, it’s not particularly surprising to us that the reelect is very mixed.”
Favorability and job performance are two questions Redlawsk said his organization asks poll respondents. He explained that favorability has remained relatively steady, but the job performance responses have changed. “There we tend to see a little more movement depending on what the issues of the day are. Right now his job performance number went up a bit,” Redlawsk said. “More people were willing to give him an A on the report card and fewer people gave him an F.”
According to Redlawsk, the split of Republicans and Democrats is what would be expected with Republicans having a favorable view of Christie and Democrats having an unfavorable view. It’s the Independents that make the difference, he explained. “Independents are kind of what moves the numbers here and there and for the most part we find Independents relatively evenly split,” he said. “A little more positive than negative.”
Redlawsk also said Democrats are may not like Christie but they do give him strong marks for leadership.
While Christie may have favorable outcomes, Redlawsk said there is a disconnect with the presidential election because New Jerseyans as a whole have supported President Barack Obama. Obama also has higher favorability ratings than the governor.
“The fact that the governor does well in a Democratic state doesn’t really seem to pull a whole lot for the national ticket,” Redlawsk said. “We’re not seeing it in polling that we’ve done or others have done for Joe Kyrillos who’s running against Bob Menendez for Senate either.”