No surprise: Dems more trusted on issues
Saturday, November 01, 2003
By Jason Fink
The Jersey JournalHalf of Hudson County residents who participated in a recent poll say they support a ballot initiative that would raise property taxes to pay for open space preservation.
The poll, conducted this week by New Jersey City University for The Jersey Journal, found that 50 percent of county residents over 18 who were questioned in a telephone survey will vote yes on the referendum, which will appear on Tuesday's ballot.
One-third of those questioned, 33.3 percent, said they would vote against the measure, while 16.7 percent said they did not know how they would vote.
If approved, the referendum will allow the county administration to increase annual property taxes by $10 per $100,000 of assessed value to preserve and acquire open space and renovate existing parks and historic places.
The initiative is being championed by County Executive Tom DeGise, who is running for re-election as a Democrat. His Republican challenger, former Assemblyman Charles Catrillo, opposes the measure.
Not surprisingly, in a county where Democrats far outnumber Republicans, poll respondents gave higher marks to Democrats on most major statewide issues, including the ability to handle the economy, with Democrats out-polling Republicans 73 percent to 20 percent, with 7 percent saying the Green Party would be best.
Similar numbers were reported on other issues, including crime, where Democrats enjoyed an advantage of 67 percent to 25 percent over Republicans, with Greens pulling in just under 9 percent.
Asked about education, just under 76 percent said they trusted Democrats more, while 20 percent answered Republicans and about 8 percent said the Green Party.
"In almost any other part of the country, this would be great news for the Democrats, but here in Hudson it simply reflects the Democratic advantage in party membership," the poll's supervisors, Bruce Chadwick of the English Department and Fran Moran of the Political Science Department, wrote in their analysis of the results.
Of those surveyed, 68.9 percent identified themselves as Democrats, 13.5 percent as Republicans and 17.6 percent as independents.
Asked about two other issues of statewide importance - the cost of car insurance and urban sprawl - similar results were found. Nearly 67 percent of those polled said they trusted Democrats more in handling car insurance costs, with just over 21 percent favoring Republicans and 12 percent supporting the Green Party.
The Democrats, who control the Governor's Office and the Assembly and are even with Republicans in the Senate, also got the vote of confidence from those surveyed on urban sprawl, with 71 percent saying they trust Democrats most on the issue. Seventeen percent said they trust Republicans on that front and 12 percent went for the Greens.
"On every issue we tracked," Chadwick and Moran wrote, "Hudson's voters told us, by a wide margin, that the Democrats could be trusted more than either of the other parties."
All legislators are up for election Tuesday, as is the county executive and the county clerk. Given the Democrats' considerable electoral advantage in the county, the most hard-fought political battles this year - and in years past - were in the Democratic primary.
In that election, the Hudson County Democratic Organization - whose most powerful figure is U.S. Rep. Robert Menendez, D-Hoboken - faced off most notably against a faction headed by Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham, who captured the nomination for state Senate in the 31 District.
Menendez and Cunningham have been engaged in a public and often highly bitter dispute over political influence for the better part of two years.
A similar poll taken two weeks ago found that of those surveyed, 31.9 percent have no interest in choosing an allegiance in that fight. Of those who did pick a side, 33.3 percent said they favor Menendez and 19.1 percent sided with Cunningham.
The rest, 15.7 percent, said they favor neither.
Jason Fink can be reached at jfink@jjournal.com.
