A new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University finds that Governor Phil Murphy has a 44% approval rating and 39% disapproval 16 months into his second term, suggesting that New Jerseyans may be experiencing some Murphy fatigue as the state’s Democrats approach the 2023 mid-term legislative election.
In February, Murphy’s approval ratings were at 48% approval and 36% disapproval according to another FDU poll, while a January poll from Monmouth University had his approvals at 52% approval and 36% disapproval at the beginning of his sixth year in office.
Although Murphy remains popular with Democrats, with a 75%-9% approval rating, he is less popular among independents, with a 40%-42% approval rating, and very unpopular with Republicans, with a 14%-77% approval rating.
For comparison, New Jersey’s Republican governor, Christine Todd Whitman, had a 55%-37% job approval rating midway through her sixth year in office in 1999. Former Governor Jim Florio, whom Whitman ousted in 1993, still had unfavorable ratings at 25%-34% in the same poll.
Murphy is the first two-term Democratic governor in New Jersey since Brendan Byrne, who was elected in 1973 and 1977.