Galloway, N.J. —Fewer than one-third of New Jersey voters approve of the way President Trump is handling his job, and more than half said the economy has gotten worse in the past year, according to the latest poll released today by the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University.

Ahead of the November midterm elections, the mood among registered voters in New Jersey is gloomy. More than 6 in 10 voters (63%) say the country is on the wrong track, while about one-fourth (24%) said it is heading in the right direction.

Presidential Approval and the Economy

Nearly two-thirds of voters (64%) disapprove of Trump’s performance as president, while 31% approve.

Trump’s approval is sharply divided by party. Most Republicans (85%) approve of his job performance, compared with 31% of Independents and 4% of Democrats.

A plurality of 49% of voters rated the economy as poor, while 25% considered it fair and fewer than one-fourth (23%) rated the economy as either excellent (5%) or good (18%).

A majority of 57% said the economy has gotten worse in the past year (including 85% of Democrats, 53% of Independents and 16% of Republicans), while 13% said the economy has gotten better and 26% said it is about the same.

Despite Republicans’ strong support for President Trump, satisfaction with the economy was weaker. Among Republicans, fewer than half (45%) said the economy is better than it was a year ago.

When thinking about the outcome of this November’s election, a majority of 55% of voters statewide prefer to see Democrats control Congress compared to 31% who want to see Republicans in control.

On the Issues

When asked which party they trust more to handle various issues, voters trusted Democrats more than Republicans on all five issues tested. The gap was widest on healthcare (58% to 25%) and the cost of living (55% to 29%), followed by foreign policy, including the war with Iran (53% to 29%).

Immigration was the closest contest, with the Democratic party ahead 49% to 36%, but neither party achieved a majority on this issue.

Immigration was also the only issue on which Independents sided with the Republican party (43% to 35%).

Artificial intelligence drew the most uncertainty. The Democratic party leads on this issue 39% to 25%, but 1 in 3 voters (34%) trust neither party or are unsure, including 42% of Independents.

“We expect partisans to trust their own party on these key policy issues, but it was notable to see where Independents landed. Although they favored the Democratic party on most of the issues we asked about, it was not by a majority,” said Alyssa Maurice, assistant director of the Hughes Center.

Election Confidence

Most voters (58%) are very or somewhat confident that results will be accurate in the midterm elections, while 37% are not too or not at all confident. Democrats (69%) are more confident than Independents (54%) and Republicans (48%).

Trust in election results has declined considerably since September 2024, the last time this question was asked. In the 2024 Stockton Poll, 68% of registered voters were at least somewhat confident the results of that year’s election would be accurate, while 31% had little to no confidence.

Looking at the change over time by party, confidence declined by 27 percentage points among Democrats and by 13 points among Independents, while confidence increased by 11 percentage points among Republican voters.

“These shifts suggest that confidence in elections is closely tied to national politics and which party is in power,” said Maurice.

For full poll results.

Methodology

The poll of New Jersey residents was sponsored and conducted by the Stockton Polling Institute of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University. Data collection took place from Oct. 13-19, 2026, using NJ voter list sample. A total of 667 New Jersey registered voters were interviewed. Responses were recorded via telephone or online in English. Overall, 96% of interviews were conducted on cell phones and 4% on landline phones. In terms of mode, 76% were reached via dialing with the survey administered by a live interviewer and 24% were reached via text-to-web. The live calls were conducted by Opinion Services. The text messages were sent by Stockton Polling Institute staff from the university’s Galloway campus and included a single-use link to take the survey online. The data were weighted to balance the sample demographics using iterative proportional fitting. Weights were based on the voting eligible population in New Jersey on variables of age, race/ethnicity, education level, region and sex. The poll's margin of error is +/- 3.8 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. The margin of sampling error is higher for subsets. Sampling error does not account for other potential sources of bias in polls such as measurement error or non-response. The poll has a design effect of 1.3. The design effect reflects the increase in sampling variance introduced by weighting adjustments. 

About the Hughes Center

The William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University serves as a catalyst for research, analysis and innovative policy solutions on the economic, social and cultural issues facing New Jersey, and promotes civic life through engagement, education and research. The Hughes Public Policy Center can be followed on Instagram @hughespublicpolicycenter, Facebook @StocktonHughesCenter, X @HughesCenter, and LinkedIn @hughes-public-policy-center, with recorded events on YouTube @StocktonPublicPolicyCenter.

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