newjerseynewsroom.com

Poll finds 2 in 10 don't like us at all, but like we care

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Uh, here’s good news. Forty-one percent of Americans have a favorable view of our Garden State.

Another 40 percent -- perhaps those still wondering if it’s true that Jimmy Hoffa is buried in the Meadowlands – have mixed views or are unsure about New Jersey.

And 18 percent – probably including those relatives who love those late night Jersey jokes – have an unfavorable view of the state, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll made public on Monday.

People in the Northeast are more likely than people in other parts of the country to have a favorable view of New Jersey. They are also more likely than people elsewhere to have an unfavorable view of the state.

Forty-eight percent of folks in the Northeast have a favorable view of the state, compared to just 37 percent of people in the Midwest. Similarly, 27 percent of people in the Northeast say they have an unfavorable view of New Jersey, compared to just 17 percent in the Midwest.

“Familiarity breeds both appreciation and criticism,” Peter Woolley, the poll’s director, said. “New Jersey’s neighbors are more likely than others to know both the attractive and unattractive parts of the state.”

More important for critics and fans of the MTV series “Jersey Shore,” there is no statistical difference between the favorable views of those who have seen the program and those who have not: 43 percent of those who have seen the show have a favorable opinion of the state; 41 percent of those who haven’t seen the show have a favorable opinion of the state.

“These measures alone suggest the show isn’t hurting the nation’s view of the state,” Woolley said. ‘In fact, it may be promoting one of the state’s best features – not Snooki, but the shore itself.”

People who are first reminded about the show (by asking whether they have seen it) and have in fact seen it, actually have far more favorable views of New Jersey than those who either have not seen the show, or have seen it but were not asked about it first: Of those who have seen the show and were reminded of it, 49 percent reported they have a favorable view of the state.

“In other words, if you’ve seen the show, and you are reminded of the show, you are more disposed to say you have a favorable view of our state,” Woolley said. “It seems to me viewers are looking past The Situation to the shore scene itself.”

Researchers experimented by asking half of the respondents whether they had seen the show before asking whether they had a favorable view of New Jersey, and half the respondents whether they had seen the show or not after they asked whether they had a favorable view of New Jersey.

The poll of 711 adults nationwide was conducted by telephone using both landlines and cell phones from March 21 to 27, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.