New Jersey’s suburban voters gave Menendez edge
TOLEDO, OHIO >> New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez overcame doubts about his character by winning enough votes from the state’s suburban and younger voters for a third term, according to a wide-ranging survey of the American electorate.
As voters cast ballots for U.S. Senate and members of Congress in Tuesday’s elections, AP VoteCast found that even some voters who don’t think he’s honest looked past the Democrat’s corruption scandal to support him.
Here’s a snapshot of who voted and why in New Jersey, based on preliminary results from AP VoteCast, an innovative nationwide survey of about 139,000 voters and nonvoters — including 3,822 voters and 667 nonvoters in the state of New Jersey — conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago.
RACE FOR SENATE
Women favored Menendez by a 3 in 5 margin, enough to overcome a split of the vote among men.
Blacks voters were another key to the Democrat’s victory, giving Menendez enough of their support to offset his Republican challenger Bob Hugin’s slight advantage among white voters.
Suburban voters who made up a majority of New Jersey’s voters also gave Menendez an edge.
Menendez, who faced a 2015 federal corruption indictment that ended in a mistrial, won even though only a quarter of the voters said they thought he was honest and trustworthy. He even got support from one-third of the voters who didn’t trust him.
Samantha Bohr said she backed Menendez because she thinks he will protect health care and work for immigration reform.
“At the end of the day it was a hard choice,” said Bohr, of Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey.
Voters under 45 also favored Menendez by a 6 in 10 margin while those ages 45 and older were more closely split.
CONTROL OF CONGRESS
Tuesday’s elections determined control of Congress in the final two years of Trump’s first term in office. Almost all of the state’s voters said that was an important factor when they considered their vote, with 7 in 10 saying it was very important.
New Jersey’s suburbs were a key battleground for House control with two open seats vacated by veteran Republicans, and a pair of competitive races in the state’s 3rd and 7th districts.
TRUMP FACTOR
Two-thirds of New Jersey voters said Trump played a role in their decision while one-third said the president wasn’t an influence.
Almost half of voters cast their ballots to express opposition to the president while about one in five said they voted to express support for Trump.
Connie Stoerk, who lives in Parsippany-Troy Hills, said the votes she cast for Democratic candidates were a direct response to Trump — despite the accusations against Menendez. “I can’t vote for Hugin ... because he would vote for Trump,” she said. “We can’t take the risk of Trump. We just can’t.”
A majority had negative views of Trump, with six in 10 saying they disapprove of how he is handling his job.
“He creates so much bad tensions between people, in relationships. At work, you can’t even talk politics anymore and I think that’s not right,” Stoerk said.
In the U.S. Senate race, Menendez often pointed out that his opponent had been a prominent donor and supporter of the president. But Hugin said during the campaign that his views didn’t mirror the president and he was “no Trump Republican.” He promised to stand up to Trump when they disagree.
TOP ISSUE: HEALTH CARE
Health care was the top issue facing the nation for most New Jersey voters followed by the economy and immigration.
Ronald J. Hadley, 58, of Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, said he embraces Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration and voted Republican so the president will have the support in Congress to continue his policies. “You’ve got to take this country back. We were built by immigrants.