Where did Florio rank among NJ governors?

Death exalts us. I've always known it. Rarely does anyone have anything but good things to say at your funeral.

Jim Florio died this past weekend at 85. He was a one-term Democratic governor who served in between two two-term Republican governors and a figure who sparked enough outrage to launch a grassroots campaign against his policies and put New Jersey 101.5 on the map.

As part of his exaltation upon his passing, Tom Moran of the Star-Ledger Editorial Board wrote kind words about Florio being an old-school, hard-working politician who will be missed.

Eric Scott offered, in my opinion, a more balanced take on NJ1015.com.

So what did average folks think of Florio?

Even last year the public remained divided on his legacy. In 2021 a Monmouth University poll asked what Garden State residents thought about every living governor since Kean. Tom Kean remained tops with 33% having a favorable opinion and 14% unfavorable.

James Florio had 22% favorable versus 23% unfavorable. Using what the poll called "net favorability," he ranked 6th of the nine governors. Phil Murphy ranked 2nd just behind Tom Kean. Chris Christie came in dead last.

Politics can be cruel. For all the ups and downs and wins and losses and hard-fought campaigns, most of the nine governors in last year's poll showed the majority of the public having no opinion about them whatsoever. After Florio's 22% favorable and 23% unfavorable, 54% had no opinion.

Even Tom Kean at the top of the heap had 53% of the public having no opinion on him.

Perhaps that should be the biggest and most telling takeaway of all.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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