🔵 New Jersey hasn't awarded electoral votes to a Republican presidential candidate since George H.W. Bush's national win in 1988

🔴 Trump gained support in New Jersey during his 2020 re-election but not as much ground as Joe Biden

⚪ The swing from Trump to Biden in dozens of towns in 2020 could indicate voter willingness to change their minds


New Jersey has been a solidly "blue state" since Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential run.

But for former President Donald Trump and MAGA enthusiasts, hope springs eternal in the great Garden State.

Earlier this year, speaking before a massive crowd on Wildwood's beach (the numbers from which were wildly inflated), the Republican nominee said New Jersey would be in play this year.

"We’re going to win the State of New Jersey," he declared. 

Republican operatives thought so, too.

But much has happened since May, not the least of which was President Biden stepping aside to let Vice President Kamala Harris become the Democratic nominee.

Red Tide in New Jersey?

Are you better off now than you were four years ago? In 2020, more voters than not answered in the negative.

President-elect Joe Biden's defeat of President Donald Trump in the Garden State was such a rout that Trump lost more than 50 municipalities that he had won four years earlier.

Biden won New Jersey by 16 percentage points with a record-setting 2.6 million votes. The Democrat gained on 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton's total by 460,000 votes. Trump, meanwhile, improved his vote haul in the state by just 281,000 votes.

How will the math add up this year, with Trump hammering Harris on border security and checkout prices? We'll be counting the votes to see. In the meantime, let's look at how the last election played out.

The 53 towns in NJ that switched from Trump to Biden

Biden made significant gains in Bergen, Monmouth, Morris and Somerset counties, where he flipped the most municipalities.

Trump even managed to lose his Jersey hometown of sorts: Bedminster, where his favorite getaway golf club is located. Voters there went for Biden this time by more than 6 percentage points. In 2016, the township favored Trump over Hillary by just a hair.

Trump, however, did manage to add one municipality to his column: the small airport borough of Teterboro, which in 2016 he had tied.

It was no surprise that the heavily Democratic state went for Biden. But it's always interesting to see how the votes break out on a local level.

How your town voted in the 2020 presidential election

Report a correction 👈 | 👉 Contact our newsroom

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM