newjerseynewsroom.com

Poll finds 47% have favorable view while 33% have never heard of him

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker for governor?

The candidacy has been talked about, and New Jersyeans appear open to the idea, according to figures in a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll released Friday.

Even if 33 percent of New Jersey voters have never heard of the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city, another 47 percent have a favorable view of him — including 28 percent who have a “very” favorable” view. Six percent say their view is unfavorable, an 8-to-1 ratio in Booker’s favor.

“For mayor of anywhere, that’s great,” said Peter Woolley, the poll’s director. “For mayor of a city in New Jersey, that’s fabulous.”

In January, 39 percent of voters said they had a favorable view of Booker. Since then he rescued an elderly woman from a burning Newark building.

“Now we know,” Woolley said. “Running into a burning building to save a lady is worth eight points on your favorable rating in New Jersey. In other states, it’s likely to be worth more. But in Jersey you get eight.”

Fairleigh Dickinson will award Booker an honorary doctorate degree at its commencement ceremonies on Tuesday for leadership “by vivid example.”

The poll of 797 registered voters statewide was conducted by telephone from April 30 through Sunday, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.