New Jersey losing its allure, poll finds

A Monmouth University Poll finds residents’ satisfaction with life in New Jersey is at a 35-year low.

About 55 percent of Garden State residents surveyed now say New Jersey is an excellent or good place to live, said Patrick Murray, poll director. That’s down from 63 percent in February.

“I think there’s an issue that statewide things are falling apart right now,” he said. “We have roads and bridges that are not being taken care of. We have funding issues for a whole host of things. The jobs issue in the state is not getting better in a way that people feel comfortable with.”

Residents are more upbeat about their own communities, Murray said.

“Seventy-one percent rate their hometown as a good place to live; 60 percent give positive evaluations of their local public schools; 71 percent say their local environmental quality is good; and 67 percent say they feel very safe in their own neighborhood at night,” he said.

Those local ratings are about the same as they were in February.