Most in NJ say Ebola threat exaggerated, Monmouth poll finds

 From left, Robert Garrett, head of the Hackensack University Health System, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and state Health Commissioner Mary O'Dowd hold an news conference on Ebola last month. (AP file photo)

From left, Robert Garrett, head of the Hackensack University Health System, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and state Health Commissioner Mary O'Dowd hold an news conference on Ebola last month. (AP file photo)

A Monmouth University Poll finds that almost every New Jersey voter is following the news about Ebola, but few of them believe it’s a serious public threat.

Only a quarter of the New Jersey residents surveyed fear Ebola as a major public health risk. Seventy percent see t as a minor threat at worst.

Voters believe Gov. Chris Christie has done a better job than the federal government of dealing with it, said Patrick Murray, poll director.

“Gov. Christie has had a really good read on what the public is thinking on this issue,” Murray said. “His move to institute the quarantine when the federal government was not doing anything was seen very positively.”

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About two-thirds of voters polled said they were on board with Christie’s decision to quarantine a nurse who was detained at Newark Airport despite her claims that she was not showing any symptoms.

Residents were divided on whether it was a good idea to allow her to return to her home state of Maine.

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