Forty-four percent of New Jerseyans approve of the way Gov. Mikie Sherrill is handling her job as governor — virtually unchanged since March 2026. Sherrill, however, gets high marks for how she handled the ethics investigation into the former Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell, with approximately two of three voters saying she handled it well, according to the latest Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.
Put another way, among residents who offered an opinion either way, more than 8 in 10 (83%) have a positive view of the governor’s handling of the matter.
Ashley Koning, the director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers-New Brunswick, said the numbers tell a positive story for Sherrill.
“New Jerseyans are largely giving Sherrill credit for how she has responded to a problem inside her own administration,” Koning said. “She brought in an outside investigator and then called publicly for her own lieutenant governor to resign, and most residents read that as accountability rather than protecting her own or politics as usual.
“It’s a continuation of Sherrill’s themes of transparency and responsibility that began on the campaign trail and have been emphasized throughout her first year.”
Koning said her handling of the situation enabled her to maintain the view many have of her.
“Nine months into her term, Gov. Sherrill’s approval numbers look much like they did at 100 days, which in this political climate – and after a challenging summer – is itself an accomplishment,” she said. “She continues to draw more positive reactions than negative ones, and more New Jerseyans have formed an impression of her than had of Phil Murphy at this same point in his first term.”
Koning did note one data point to watch.
“A quarter of residents still have no opinion of her almost a year in, and how those New Jerseyans eventually break will decide whether her net positive ratings hold,” she said.
Here’s more detail on the numbers:
- Forty-four percent of New Jerseyans approve of the way Sherrill is handling her job as governor – virtually unchanged since March 2026; 34% now disapprove (up 5 points), and 22% are unsure. Among those who have formed an opinion, 56% approve.
- Thirty-nine percent have a favorable impression of Sherrill, while 31% have an unfavorable one. Just over a quarter (27%) have no opinion of the governor, and 3% say they don’t know who she is.
- Sherrill’s ratings are down slightly since March, when 44% of residents had a favorable impression of her and 29% had an unfavorable one, though these shifts are within the poll’s margin of error.
As for the Caldwell situation.
Residents were asked how well Sherrill is handling the situation involving Caldwell. An independent review found he violated state ethics policies, and he resigned at the governor’s request on Friday.
Because the investigation concluded and Caldwell stepped down while the poll was being conducted, the question’s wording was updated mid-fielding to reflect these events. There was no statistically significant difference in the way residents responded to the question before versus after Caldwell announced his resignation.
Across all 976 residents who answered either version of the question, 36% say she is handling the situation very well, while another 32% say somewhat well. Nine percent say she is not handling it very well and 5% not well at all, while 19% are unsure.
Results are from a statewide poll of 1,004 adults contacted through the probability-based Rutgers-Eagleton/SSRS Garden State Panel from Sept. 24-27. The full sample has a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percentage points.
