|
Poll: N.J. Governor's Approval Nudges Up
By AP from the NYTimes on the Web, August 15, 2004
TRENTON, N.J. -- Gov. James E. McGreevey's approval rating has not suffered since he announced that he had an affair with a man and will resign in November, a new poll showed Sunday.
The governor's approval rating was 45 percent, 2 points higher than in a similar poll conducted two weeks earlier, according to the Star-Ledger/Eagleton-Rutgers poll.
The telephone poll of 400 adults was conducted Thursday and Friday nights.
The error margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.
McGreevey, who is married, announced his resignation Thursday. Sources in his administration named former McGreevey adviser Golan Cipel as his extramarital partner and said he had demanded millions of dollars to stay quiet.
Cipel has said that he is not gay and that he was the target of repeated and unwanted sexual advances by McGreevey.
Opinion on whether McGreevey should resign immediately or stay in office until November was split along party lines.
Seventy-four percent of those who identified themselves as Republicans said McGreevey should quit right away, compared to 29 percent of those who said they were Democrats.
Overall, 45 percent agreed with McGreevey's decision to step down on Nov. 15, while 44 percent said he should resign immediately.
Sixty percent of those polled believe there is "more to the story," and 58 percent said McGreevey has been less than forthcoming about his personal life.
Forty-one percent said they were not surprised to learn that McGreevey is gay.
"Garden State residents tend to be tolerant of alternate lifestyles and most do not want to kick McGreevey when he is down," said acting poll director Patrick Murphy.
"However, there is a suspicion that this is not the full story and that there may be other skeletons in the closet."
|
