Trump approval at 29% among likely NJ voters, poll finds

President Donald Trump’s approval rating dipped below 30% in New Jersey in advance of midterm elections broadly viewed as a referendum on his second term, a newly released Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll found.

Just 29% of likely voters told pollsters they approved of Trump’s handling of the presidency, while 66% said they disapproved.

“Trump isn’t running for reelection, but he has made himself the face of the Republican Party,” Dan Cassino, the poll’s director, said in a statement. “The fact that he’s this unpopular means that he’s dragging down Republican candidates in a way that a less visible president might not be.”

Trump’s approval showed signs of softening even among Republicans. Just 68% of self-identified conservatives said they approved of his job performance, while 27% disapproved.

The president’s most die-hard supporters, those who identify as MAGA, still overwhelmingly backed him. Nearly all who called themselves MAGA, 95%, said they approved of Trump’s performance in the job. Only 21% of moderates said the same, compared to 7% of liberals and 8% of progressives.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) got higher marks. Nearly half of likely voters, 48%, said they approved of the job she was doing, while 32% said they disapproved.

While her approvals are still well above water, they’ve also descended in the months since she took office. A Fairleigh Dickinson poll released in March found 58% approved of the job she was doing.

The drop doesn’t appear driven by rising disapproval, which has ticked up only two points since the March poll, but the number who are unsure or don’t know about her performance has more than doubled since then, rising from 8% to 20%.

The declines in Sherrill’s approval and the rise in voters’ uncertainty were marked across demographic groups, but the biggest declines came from women and Black and Hispanic voters.

“It’s not clear what Sherrill has done to cause voters who should be among her most loyal supporters to distance themselves,” Cassino said. “But whatever it is, this is a blinking yellow light for the administration.”

The Sherrill administration has faced some controversies early in her tenure, most notably the resignation of her lieutenant governor following allegations of ethics violations and sexual harassment.

Former Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell, who is Black, resigned last month, but it’s not clear that resignation or the allegations against him were driving the rise in uncertainty.

It could also stem from an increase in former unaffiliated and Republican voters now identifying as Democrats, Cassino said, but no explanation was certain.

“For whatever reason, Democrats are not as happy with the governor as they were when she took over,” Cassino said.