Menendez Still Toxic In Garden State

In the weeks since Senator Robert Menendez’s mistrial, he’s acted as if he had been exonerated. He wasn’t and the voters of New Jersey don’t see it that way either. Make no mistake, Senator Menendez’s political future is still very bleak.

A new Rutgers-Eagleton poll this afternoon highlighted that fact, with 51% of New Jerseyans saying he doesn’t deserve re-election, nearly twice the number of people who think he does:

“A Rutgers-Eagleton poll released Thursday found 51 percent of New Jersey voters think the Democratic senator does not deserve to be reelected next year, while half that number — 26 percent — think he deserves reelection.”

Similarly awful are Senator Menendez’s approval rating and favorable numbers:

“The poll also found that Menendez’s approval ratings are upside down, with 29 percent of residents giving him good marks and 36 percent disapproving. Just 20 percent have a favorable impression of him, while 30 percent have an unfavorable one.”

Perhaps most significantly, the poll found that that when voters, previously unaware of his corruption and felony trial heard about it, they were “far less likely to say he deserved reelection”:

“But the poll did find something troubling for Menendez. Half of respondents were asked whether Menendez deserved reelection before they were asked about his trial, and half were asked after. Those who first heard about his trial were far less likely to say he deserved reelection. ‘Making Menendez’s corruption charges and current trouble salient clearly takes a toll on his reelection prospects with New Jerseyans,’ said Koning. ‘Menendez can still face a new trial and will face an ethics investigation in the Senate, so this issue for him will not go away anytime soon and has the potential to become a key part of any opponent’s campaign, to Menendez’s detriment.’”

This new poll confirms what we have long said. If Senator Menendez runs for re-election next year, he will be a burden on the DSCC’s bank account and the Democratic brand.