According to a poll released April 16, by the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University, most say the affordability of housing and utilities is getting worse in the state and that government officials should do more to address the problem. Voters also weighed in on taxes, cell phone policies in schools, congestion pricing and other state issues.
State budget
Voters were informed that New Jersey is aiming to address its budget deficit by increasing revenue and decreasing spending. They were presented with a list of various approaches to raise revenue and cut spending, including some proposed in Governor Phil Murphy’s 2026 state budget, and were asked which, if any, they would support. The proposals to increase revenue or reduce spending were presented in random order for each respondent.
Among the proposals to bring in additional funds, raising taxes on online gambling and sports betting received the highest rate of support at 58%, followed by raising taxes on wealthy individuals at 55%. These were the only two proposals that garnered majority support. Just under a majority (49%) support raising taxes on cigarettes and alcohol and raising taxes on corporations (48%).
By and large, spending cuts were less popular. As many as 43% of voters want the government to focus on raising more revenue to balance the budget. The next highest rate (37%) support cutting the number of government employees, largely driven by Republican voters.
Most voters (85%) have not gambled online with a betting app, sportsbook or casino in the past year, while 8% rarely have, and 7% have sometimes or often. Men gambled online at higher rates than women.
“Online gambling rates are still pretty low among voters at-large, so that helps shed some light on why that’s a tax hike they’re largely fine with,” Maurice said.
Cell phones in schools
Half of New Jersey voters support banning cell phones in K-12 schools, while 35% oppose and 14% are not sure. No differences in support were found between voters with any children currently enrolled in grades K-12 and those without school-age dependents.
However, there were partisan differences. Majorities of Republicans (57%) and Independents (54%) support banning cell phones, while 44% of Democrats do, though that does represent a plurality.
When it comes to the policy details, a plurality of 40% said devices should be locked away during classroom periods only. One-fourth said devices should be locked away for the entire school day and nearly the same rate (22%) said the use of devices should be banned, but students should not be required to lock them away. Only 8% said devices should not be restricted in any way in K-12 schools.
Housing affordability and utility costs
Three in four voters (76%) said housing affordability is getting worse in their community, while 18% said it is stable and only 3% said it is getting better. These rates did not differ by New Jersey region.
Two thirds (67%) said the affordability of utilities like gas and electricity is getting worse, 27% said it remains the same, and 2% said it is getting better. These rates did differ by region, with South Jersey voters saying utility affordability is getting worse in their community at a higher rate (77%) than voters in the northern (64%) and central (66%) parts of the state.
A majority (77%) agreed that government officials in New Jersey should do more to make sure there is enough affordable housing available (including 91% of Democrats, 57% of Republicans and 77% of Independents), while 17% disagreed.
Voters overwhelmingly agreed (92%) that government officials should do more to make sure utilities are affordable for residents with more consensus along party lines (96% of Democrats, 87% of Republicans and 90% of Independents), and 5% disagreed.
Among policies to help address housing costs in the state, increasing property tax relief garnered the most support at 62% and stands out as the only policy with bipartisan support. It is followed by increasing down payment assistance for first-time home buyers and rental assistance for low-income renters, both tied at 53%.
Congestion pricing
Most voters (63%) oppose congestion pricing for traffic in nearby cities like New York or Philadelphia. About 1in 5 (22%) support congestion pricing and 13% are not sure. A majority of 83% of Republicans oppose congestion pricing versus a plurality of 48% of Democrats.
Methodology
The poll of New Jersey registered voters was sponsored and conducted by the Stockton Polling Institute of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University. Data collection took place from April 10-14, 2025. A total of 667 New Jersey voters were interviewed. Responses were recorded via telephone or online in English. Overall, 94% of interviews were conducted on cell phones and 6% on landline phones. In terms of mode, 60% were reached via dialing with the survey administered by a live interviewer and 40% were reached via text-to-web. The live calls were conducted by Opinion Services. The text messages were sent by Stockton Polling Institute staff from the University’s Galloway campus and included a single-use link to take the survey online.
All respondents passed various quality control checks to evaluate the quality of the data collected online. Both cell and landline samples consisted of random digit dialing (RDD) and voter list sample from MSG. Both listed and unlisted numbers are included. Within-household selection is done by asking for the youngest adult. Adults without a telephone are excluded from the sample. The data was weighted to balance the sample demographics using iterative proportional fitting, also known as raking or random iterative method (RIM) weighting. Weights were based on U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 data for the citizen voting age population in New Jersey on variables of age, race, education level, and sex. The poll’s margin of error is +/- 3.8 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
