Nearly three-quarters of New Jersey residents want Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez to resign following his indictment on federal bribery and illegal foreign lobbying charges.
A Fairleigh Dickinson University poll found Thursday that 70% of Garden State residents want Menendez, 69, out before the end of his third term in January 2025.
Only 16% said he should remain in office.
The poll also found that 80% of Republicans support the senator stepping down, along with 71% of Democrats and 67% of independents.
New Jersey’s young and black residents are more likely to say Menendez should stay — though only 25% of the latter group say he should stay.
Notably, while Menendez has alleged racial motivations among his political enemies, 71% of Hispanics say the Cuban American lawmaker should resign.
Seventy percent of New Jersey residents want Senator Bob Menendez to resign, following his indictment on federal corruption and illegal foreign lobbying charges. Getty Images Eighty percent of Republicans support embattled senator resigning.AP
“Menendez has been able to overcome accusations in the past,” said Dan Cassino, an FDU professor of government and politics who led the poll. “But this time, it seems he has no real support anymore.”
A majority of survey respondents also said New Jersey’s politicians were either “very corrupt” or “somewhat” corrupt, with only 9% saying that those holding public office were “not at all” corrupt.
A Fairleigh Dickinson poll showed that 54% of New Jersey residents said they were “almost certain” to vote in next month’s state legislative election when Menendez’s indictment was mentioned, while only 47% gave the same response when it was not.
About 71% of Democrats and 67% of independents say that Menendez should step down. EDUARDO MUNOZ/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
One in five independent voters (20%) also favored the Republican candidate when the Menendez allegations were brought up by pollsters, while only 12% favored the GOP when the allegations were not mentioned.
However, 79% of Democrats said they would support their party’s candidate once the Menendez allegations were raised, compared to 73% who said they would support their party when the charges were not brought up.
Democratic candidates in New Jersey also led the generic vote by 10 percentage points (38% to 28%) when the senator’s legal troubles were mentioned and by six percentage points (37% to 31%) when they were not.
Menendez was indicted again, along with his wife, Nadine Menendez, on Sept. 22 for allegedly accepting bribes from three wealthy New Jersey businessmen in exchange for gold bullion, cash and convertibles.AP
“Thinking about Menendez makes less partisan voters more likely to say they’ll vote Republican,” Cassino added. “The question is whether those voters will bother to show up in an election that is usually a very low voter turnout.”
The Garden State Democrat, who is running for re-election next year, was also indicted in 2015 on corruption charges after he allegedly used his political influence to help a Florida eye surgeon in exchange for gifts and campaign contributions.
The case ended in a hung jury in 2017.
Menendez was indicted again, along with his wife, Nadine, on September 22 for allegedly accepting bribes from three wealthy New Jersey businessmen in exchange for 13 gold bars, $486,461 in cash and a 2019 Mercedes-Benz C-Class convertible, among other items.
Menendez has claimed racial motivation from his political enemies, but 71% of Hispanics say the Cuban American lawmaker should resign. EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The FBI raided the Democratic senator’s home in June 2022 and found what prosecutors called the “fruit” of his bribery deal with businessmen: Wael Hana, Fred Daibes and Jose Uribe.
Menendezes also faces corruption charges by using his position as senator of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to help the Egyptian government, including allegedly lobbying his friends to liquidate $300 million in military aid.
On October 12, Menendez and his wife were indicted on superseding charges of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act in their dealings with Egyptian officials.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who is retiring at the end of his current term next year, has been promoted to chairman of the committee — although Menendez has refused to resign and has said he will fight the charges in federal court.
On Wednesday, Menendez was barred from attending a classified briefing on the war between Israel and Hamas.Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
The senator’s legal defense fund raised $274,500 in the third quarter of the year, powered by the New Jersey Democrat’s longtime donors to his campaign and previous legal defense funds.
On Wednesday, Menendez was barred from attending a classified briefing on the war between Israel and Hamas — following boos from Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman about his alleged collusion with Egypt.
The Fairleigh-Dickinson poll, conducted between Oct. 6 and Oct. 14, surveyed 813 New Jersey residents via telephone interviews or a text-to-web survey sent to cell phones.
It has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3.5%.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
