New Jersey Voters Blame Trump, FAA, and Biden for Newark Airport Issues
A new Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey in New Jersey finds 28% of Democratic Primary voters plan to support Rep. Mikie Sherrill, while 11% respectively support Mayor Steven Fulop, Mayor Ras Baraka, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer. Ten percent support Sean Spiller, and 5% support Steve Sweeney. With about a month until the primary, 24% are undecided.
“Rep. Sherrill had the most significant movement since the January Emerson poll in the Garden State, with her 18-point increase driven by solidifying support among voters over 50, at 33%, as well as primary voters with a college degree, 31% of whom support Sherrill,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, noted.
A plurality of voters (44%) support former 2021 gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli for the Republican nomination, while 18% support Bill Spadea, and 8% support Jon Bramnick. Twenty-three percent are undecided.
President Trump holds a split job approval rating in New Jersey: 47% approve and 47% disapprove, 6% are neutral. Governor Phil Murphy holds a 40% job approval rating, while 45% disapprove of the job he is doing; 15% are neutral.
Fifty-three percent of voters prefer the next Governor of New Jersey to work with the Trump administration, while 47% prefer the next Governor to stand up to the Trump administration.
“Democrats want the next Governor to stand up to Trump (76%), while Republicans want the next Governor to work with Trump (90%),” Kimball added. “Independents align more with Republicans in wanting the Governor to work with the president at 60%, compared to 40% who want the Governor to stand up to the president.”
The economy remains the top issue for New Jersey voters at 45%, followed by housing affordability (12%), threats to democracy (11%), and immigration policy (9%).
“Pocketbook issues will be central in the gubernatorial race, with 57% of voters citing the economy or housing affordability as their top concern,” Kimball said. “At the same time, immigration may become an issue in the general election as voters support Trump’s deportation policy, even as they believe tariffs will hurt the economy.”
A plurality of voters (46%) think the recent deportations of undocumented immigrants by the Trump administration have made their community more safe, while 24% think the deportations have made their community less safe, and 31% think it has no impact on safety.
Forty-four percent support the recent arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka for trespassing at an immigration detention facility in Newark, while 38% oppose it, and 18% are unsure or do not know enough to say.
4 in 5 New Jersey voters note they have been paying close attention to issues at Newark Airport, while 20% have not been following events closely. Regarding who is responsible for air traffic control issues at Newark airport, 31% think the Trump administration is most responsible, 29% the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 20% the Biden administration, 8% the Murphy administration, and 6% Congress.
“Democratic voters blame the Trump administration (49%) and the FAA (24%), Republican voters blame Biden (38%) and the FAA (33%), while independents blame the FAA (34%), Trump (29%) and Biden (16%),” Kimball noted.
Over half (53%) of voters would feel unsafe taking a flight from Newark, while 47% would feel safe.
A majority of voters (57%) think New Jersey Transit has stayed the same since last summer, while 31% think it has worsened, and 12% think it has improved.
A majority (54%) think the U.S. and its major trading partners increasing tariffs will hurt the economy; 37% believe it will help it and 9% think it will have no impact.
Methodology
The Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill New Jersey survey was conducted May 11-13, 2025. The overall sample of New Jersey active registered voters, n=1,000, has an overall credibility interval, similar to a poll’s margin of error (MOE), of +/- 3 percentage points. The Democratic Primary has a sample size of n=386 likely primary voters with a credibility interval of +/- 4.9%. The Republican Primary has a sample size of n=330 likely primary voters with a credibility interval of +/-5.4%. The data sets were weighted by gender, education, race, age, party registration, region, and 2021 vote recall.
It is important to remember that subsets based on demographics, such as gender, age, education, and race/ethnicity, carry with them higher credibility intervals, as the sample size is reduced. Survey results should be understood within the poll’s range of scores, and with a confidence interval of 95% a poll will fall outside the range of scores 1 in 20 times.
Data was collected by contacting cell phones via MMS-to-web text, landlines via interactive voice response (phone list provided by Aristotle), and an online panel of voters provided by CINT. Panel responses were matched to the Aristotle voter file using respondents’ full name and ZIP code; responses that were not matched to a unique New Jersey voter were removed from the final data set. The survey was offered in English.
All questions asked in this survey, with the exact wording, along with full results, demographics, and cross tabulations, can be found under Full Results. This survey was funded by Nexstar Media.
