Half of NJ residents support the Trump impeachment push

As efforts continue in Washington to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump, a new poll finds many New Jerseyans support the idea.

Krista Jenkins, the director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll, said as new facts continue to emerge about the phone call between Trump and the president of Ukraine, and whether Trump improperly pressured him to investigate Democratic rival and former Vice President Joe Biden, about 50 percent of the state says they support impeachment. About 36% are opposed to impeachment.

The poll also asked Jersey residents if they approved of the job Trump was doing as commander in chief. He gets a 34% job approval rating and a 57% disapproval rating.

Among residents of a state that voted for Hillary Clinton by more than 14 percentage points in the 2016 election, 36% say the country is heading in the right direction while 56% say it's headed in the wrong direction.

She said the poll finds impeachment is a partisan issue with 78% of Democrats solidly behind impeachment while 81% of Republicans are against it.

Independents are divided on the issue: 39% favor impeachment, 32% are opposed and 24% are undecided.

Jenkins added that education also plays a role in how people perceive Trump.

“People that have less than a high school degree tend to be the most opposed to impeachment, and the more you get up the educational continuum the more supportive people are of impeaching President Trump," she said.

The poll finds 40% of those with no more than a high school degree support impeachment, while 53% of those with a college degree support impeachment and 62% of people who attended grad school support impeachment.

“The President has a solid core of supporters. There’s a group of supporters who remain by his side because they like what they see. Their steadfast loyalty to the president so far keeps New Jersey from turning a darker shade of blue," she said.

The survey included a random sample of 801 New Jersey adults, on cell phones and landlines, between Sept. 26 and Oct. 2.

You can contact reporter David Matthau at David.Matthau@townsquaremedia.com