March 08, 2016
A majority of recently surveyed New Jersey residents say they have trouble making ends meet, think the economy is still in a recession and believe their state is on the wrong track.
That's according to a poll from Stockton University's William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy released Monday, which measured views of Garden State residents on economic inequality.
“While there has been much analysis regarding New Jersey’s economic health, this study allows New Jerseyans to voice how they have been affected by these economic conditions,” said Kelly Sloane, a researcher for the center, in a press release.
The survey found that 55 percent of respondents said their income is falling below the cost of living, 66 percent said New Jersey is on the wrong track and 70 percent believed the U.S. was still going through a recession.
An overwhelming majority (79 percent) rated the nation's economy as poor or fair; a higher percentage (84.1) gave the state's economy the same mark.
Those surveyed also wanted action of some sort. About 88 percent wanted more government action to reduce poverty and 80 percent favored increasing the tax rate for Americans making more than $1 million a year.
The poll was taken to build off of research released in May from the center that found the economy in South Jersey trailed the rest of the state.
Researchers conducted the poll by calling both cell phones and landlines during the period of Nov. 4-15, 2015. It had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.
