June Tue, 1997
1997 GUBERNATORIAL RACE: VOTERS’ VIEWS ON WHITMAN’S 1993 CAMPAIGN PROMISES UNCERTAIN VOTERS SHIFT PREFERENCES
About 4-in-10 New Jersey voters say Governor Whitman has kept most of her 1993 campaign promises. In the voters’ evaluations of the Governor’s performance on a range of different issues, she gets her highest evaluations for protecting the environment and for holding down state income taxes. Her lowest grades are for holding down property taxes and holding down the cost of automobile insurance.
June Tue, 1997
1997 GUBERNATORIAL RACE: MOST VOTERS UNCERTAIN ABOUT CHOICE WHITMAN MORE WIDELY KNOWN THAN MCGREEVEY
As the 1997 campaign for Governor of New Jersey begins, half (53%) of registered New Jerseyans are not yet firm in their selection of a candidate. Among registered voters who say they will not change their minds before Election Day, Christie Whitman (22%) and Jim McGreevey (25%) have about equal support. Whitman has a 44 to 38 percent lead over McGreevey when those who have made a choice but might change their mind before the election are included in the support for the candidates.
March Tue, 1997
NEW JERSEYANS ASSESS THEIR TAXES
Since January 1994, when Governor Whitman took office, there has been a 30% reduction in the state income taxes paid by New Jerseyans and about 4-in-10 say they have benefited at least some from this program. In contrast, more than half of the state’s residents report that their local property taxes have gone up in the past year. Overall, close to 6-in-10 who have had an increase in their local property taxes say it is a result of the 30% state income tax reduction. When New Jerseyans evaluate their combined payment for state taxes and local property taxes, 6-in-10 say they have experienced an increase in the past three years.
March Thu, 1997
IMPRESSIONS OF WHITMAN’S FIRST TERM IN OFFICE
While Governor Christie Whitman continues to receive positive job ratings from a majority of New Jerseyans and is currently preferred as a candidate over a yet to be named Democratic opponent in the 1997 election, her support is not as broad as Tom Kean’s was at the same point in his gubernatorial tenure. As a candidate for Governor in 1997, Whitman has the support of about 4-in-10 New Jerseyans who would vote to re-elect her, compared to half of New Jerseyans who indicated they would vote to re-elect Republican Governor Tom Kean in the spring of 1985. The key difference between the support for Whitman and Kean is Kean had the ability to attract larger percentages of independents and Democrats.