Menendez job approval drops to single digits in New Jersey

Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-N.J.) approval rating dropped to single digits among New Jersey residents, according to a new poll.

The poll by Stockton University, released Thursday, found only 8 percent of New Jersey residents were favorable of Menendez, while 72 percent had an unfavorable opinion of him.

The poll results come days after Menendez pleaded not guilty to a charge alleging he conspired with his wife and a New Jersey businessman to act as an unregistered foreign agent of the Egyptian government. Menendez has faced a wave of criticism since the indictment was unveiled against him last month that accused him and his wife of accepting bribes on behalf of interests in Egypt that totaled more than $600,000.

The poll found nearly 80 percent of New Jersey residents were very familiar or somewhat familiar with the charges that Menendez is facing. About 1 in 5 residents said they were not familiar, according to the poll.

The poll also found 71 percent said the senior New Jersey senator should resign from his office, while 8 percent said he should not. Another 17 percent said they were unsure.

Calls for Menendez’s resignation came from both sides of the aisle in the poll, with 78 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of Republicans saying he should step down. These responses echo U.S. lawmakers’ calls for Menendez to resign, as a slew of Democrat senators urged him to do so following the indictment.

The new poll also backs up previous polling from Fairleigh Dickinson University from earlier this month, which found that 70 percent of New Jersey residents want Menendez to step down.

The New Jersey senator has repeatedly said he will not step down from office. He has not yet said whether he would be pursuing a fourth term as he is up for reelection next year, but New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim (D) announced last month that he would challenge Menendez in the primary.

The Stockton University poll was conducted among 630 New Jersey residents between Oct. 9-18 and has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.