Magellan Data and Mapping Strategies are pleased to present the topline results of a 985N automated survey of likely general election voters in Gloucester County, New Jersey. The interviews were conducted September 15th and 16th, 2010. This survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.11% at the 95 percent confidence interval. The survey results were weighted to reflect past voting demographics from the 2009 general election cycle.
Summary
Despite Gloucester County being a heavily Democrat County, Republican Freeholder and local Republican township council candidates have a very good opportunity to make gains this November. It is clear that the success of Republican candidates like Governor Chris Christie and Assemblyman Domenick DiCicco in 2009 were no fluke.
The generic “local township ballot test” finds voters preferring the Republican candidate to the Democrat candidate 40% to 35%. The ballot test for freeholder is a statistical tie, with Republican candidates Larry Wallace (17%) and Vince Nestore (16%) within the margin of error with Democrat candidates Robert Zimmerman (16%) and Heather Simmons (15%). None of the four candidates are well known, with only 25% to 35% of likely voters having an opinion of each candidate.
Governor Christie has a solid image rating considering 50% of respondents are Democrats. Among all voters, 49% have a favorable opinion of him and 44% have an unfavorable opinion. Among Democrat voters, 30% have a favorable image of the Governor. Senate President/Gloucester County Freeholder Director Stephen Sweeney is another story. His image rating, and is “upside down”. Among all voters, 37% have a favorable opinion of him and 42% have an unfavorable opinion. Among Democrat voters 30% have an unfavorable opinion of him. It appears he has lost the public relations battle with Governor Christie in Trenton over the state budget, while negative stories surrounding the Gloucester County Freeholder Board’s repeated violations of the Open Public Meetings Law and the ongoing DRPA scandal have damaged him.
Download survey press release and topline results below.
