New Jersey voters experience ‘negative emotions’, poll finds

3 minute read

A new poll shows New Jersey voters are approaching the 2024 presidential election with an overwhelming sense of anxiety.

Nearly nine in 10 voters in the Garden State reported some kind of negative emotional reaction to the election season, according to the latest Rutgers-Eagleton poll. Anxiety and worry topped the list of sentiments, with 57% of voters saying they feel worried, nervous, anxious, afraid or anxious about the upcoming election.

“Every four years, the end of the ‘spooky season’ brings not only Halloween, but also the final stretch of the presidential election and the possibility of an October surprise,” said Ashley Koning, assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for the Public Interest. Rutgers University Poll. “Perhaps what’s not surprising about this election cycle is how tense Garden State voters are about this tight presidential race.”

Just 8% of those surveyed in mid-October said they were excited, optimistic or hopeful about what Election Day might bring. Smaller groups reported feeling stressed (4%), frustrated (2%) or even physically ill (3%).

The poll found that voter sentiment on politics overall was similarly bleak. Forty percent of respondents said they “never” feel proud of politics these days, and another 38% said they “never” feel enthusiastic. At the same time, 32% said they are “always” worried. Another 35% said they feel anxious “most of the time.”

Anger is also common. Twelve percent of respondents said they were angry “always,” 29% “most of the time,” and 21% about half the time. Jessica Roman, director of data management and analysis at Eagleton, said independents report feelings of pride and enthusiasm for politics even less frequently than their partisan counterparts.

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“Yet both independents and supporters say they are almost always equally angry and, indeed, almost always concerned,” she said.

The poll, conducted in mid-October, also examined perceptions of the two leading presidential candidates, revealing a sharp divide in how New Jersey voters perceive their qualities. Voters surveyed associated Donald Trump more with terms like “extreme” and “incompetent,” while Kamala Harris was considered “empathetic” and “trustworthy.” For example, 61% of voters surveyed described Trump as “extreme,” compared to 18% for Harris. Harris, meanwhile, gained a 53% to 19% advantage in empathy.

Voters surveyed were virtually divided on which candidate looked more patriotic. Forty percent of voters surveyed associated “patriotism” with Trump, while 37% associated it with Harris; 9% said it applied to both equally, and another 9% said it applied to neither. Independents polled gave Trump the edge, with 48% attributing this trait to him, compared with 23% for Harris.

“Patriotism has become an important concept this election cycle, and the two presidential campaigns are now fighting over who ‘owns it,'” Koning said. “While Republicans in recent history have typically made patriotism their own, the Harris campaign sought to rebrand patriotism as a Democratic Party value that would separate it from the more nationalistic version touted by the other party.”

The poll of 1,018 adults, conducted Oct. 15-22, also found voters had mixed perceptions of the strength of the candidates. Forty percent of voters surveyed said “strong” was a better word to describe Harris, while another 40% said it was a more accurate word to describe Trump.

Debra Bory-Holtz, a senior research fellow at Eagleton, said female candidates often face increased scrutiny for showing empathy or emotion, as well as biases that call into question their political competence and strength—standards held to male candidates. rarely encountered.

“These perceptions are turned a little on their head in New Jersey, with Harris holding his own when it comes to these more traditionally masculine leadership traits, and Trump being credited with what have historically been seen as more negative, feminine traits,” she said.