All of the conversations and controversies around tickets, fan festivals, economic benefits and transportation impact that has come since New Jersey was awarded may have overlooked one thing: The average New Jerseyan doesn’t care.
At least that was a finding in the latest Rutgers/Eagleton poll released Friday morning.
The poll found that only 2% of those surveyed said they plan on attending a match at MetLife Stadium. That’s not a surprise, considering the scarcity of tickets and their cost.
But this was surprising: Only 4% said they plan to attend a fan zone or watch party in New Jersey and only about a third (34%) said they intend to watch the matches at home.
Nearly two in three (62%) said they will not take part in any of these World Cup activities.
These results match the greater takeaway of the poll: Those surveyed, all registered voters, say they are more concerned about the impact of the event on their daily lives than the actual results of the matches.
Despite their lack of interest, those surveyed did say they think the event will be an economic boon for the state.
Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers-New Brunswick, tried to put the results into perspective.
“New Jersey voters see the World Cup as a likely economic win for the region, even as many are tuning out the tournament itself,” she said. “What they are paying attention to is what it will mean for getting around the state. Voters welcome the boost but are bracing for the traffic, the transit crowding, and the strain on local services that come with it.”
When it comes to news on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, New Jerseyans are mainly tuned out to information about the tournament itself, such as the teams, players and matches.
Eight percent say they are following “very closely,” 17% “somewhat closely,” 28% “not too closely” and 45% “not closely at all.”
What does all this mean? Perhaps only this.
While the World Cup final, played July 19 at MetLife Stadium, is expected to draw a global-record 3 billion viewers, it may not be must-see TV here.
The results are from a statewide poll of 859 registered voters in New Jersey from May 15-19. The full registered voter sample has a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percentage points.
