For Immediate Release
Contact:
Dan Cassino
Executive Director, FDU Poll
973.896.7072/ dcassino@fdu.edu
New Jersey gives local media low scores
Just 12 percent of New Jersey residents say that the local media is doing a “good” job
Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, NJ, November 7, 2022 – The local media has a vital role in making electoral democracy work, but few residents in New Jersey think that they’re doing a good job of it. According to the latest results from the FDU Poll, a plurality of New Jersey residents say that the local press is doing a “poor” job, amid even greater skepticism among Republicans.
Overall, just 12 percent of New Jersey residents say that the local media is doing a good job of covering important issues and holding officials accountable. Thirty-five percent say that the media is doing a “fair” job, and the plurality, 41 percent rate it as “poor.”
“Local news coverage in New Jersey has really been hollowed out over the past decade,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of Government and Politics at FDU, and the Executive Director of the Poll. “The reporters and outlets we have do good work, but there’s just not that many of them left.”
Disapproval of the media is widespread, but Republicans are much less likely to think that the local press is doing a good job than Democrats. Just five percent of Republicans in the state say that the local media is doing a “good” job, compared to 19 percent of Democrats. Seventy-three percent of Republicans say that the media is doing a “poor” job, while only 20 percent of Democrats think so. Independent Garden Staters fall almost exactly between the two partisan poles.
“Going back to Richard Nixon, Republican leaders nationally have been treating the press like an enemy,” said Cassino. “After fifty years of that, it’s not surprising that individual Republicans have internalized the message.”
Former President Donald Trump has been especially loud in his denunciations of the press, but there are not enough Republicans who don’t support Trump (or Democrats that do) to distinguish between the effects of Trump support and partisanship more generally.
The one silver lining for New Jersey’s local media is that residents under the age of 30 are less likely than older residents to say that the press is doing a “poor” job. Forty-six percent of residents 30 and over say that the local media is doing a “poor” job, compared to just 20 percent of residents under 30. However, residents under 30 are also less likely to say that the press is doing a “good” job.
Methodology
The survey was conducted between October 24 and November 1, 2022, using a certified list of adult New Jersey residents carried out by Ironwood Insights. Respondents were randomly chosen from the list and contacted via either live-caller telephone interviews or text-to-web surveys sent to cellular phones, resulting in an overall sample of 801 respondents. 174 of the surveys were carried out via live-caller telephone interviews on both cell phones (70%) and landlines (30%), and the remainder (627) were done on a web platform via web links sent via SMS to cell phones. Surveys were conducted only in English.
The data were weighted to be representative of the population of adult NJ residents, as of the 2020 US Census. The weights used, like all weights, balance the demographic characteristics of the sample to match known population parameters. The weighted results used here are balanced to match parameters for sex, age, education and race/ethnicity.
SPSSINC RAKE, an SPSS extension module that simultaneously balances the distributions of all variables using the GENLOG procedure, was used to produce final weights. Weights were trimmed to prevent individual interviews from having too much influence on the final results. The use of these weights in statistical analysis helps to ensure that the demographic characteristics of the sample approximate the demographic characteristics of the target population. The size of these weights is used to construct the measure of design effects, which indicate the extent to which the reported results are being driven by the weights applied to the data, rather than found in the data itself. Simply put, these design effects tell us how many additional respondents would have been needed to get the weighted number of respondents across weighted categories: larger design effects indicate greater levels of under-representation in the data. In this case, calculated design effects are approximately 1.4.
All surveys are subject to sampling error, which is the expected probable difference between interviewing everyone in a population versus a scientific sampling drawn from that population. Sampling error should be adjusted to recognize the effect of weighting the data to better match the population. In this poll, the simple sampling error for 801 registered voters is +/-3.5 percentage points, at a 95 percent confidence interval. Including the design effects, the margin of error would be +/-4.9 percentage points, though the figure not including them is much more commonly reported.
This error calculation does not take into account other sources of variation inherent in public opinion studies, such as non-response, question-wording, differences in translated forms, or context effects. While such errors are known to exist, they are often unquantifiable within a particular survey, and all efforts, such as randomization and extensive pre-testing of items, have been used to minimize them.
Weighted Telephone Sample Characteristics
801 New Jersey Residents
Figures are weighted to overall voter characteristics from the 2020 US Census. Respondents who refused to answer a demographic item are not included.
Man
42% N = 341
Woman
55% N = 436
Some Other Way
3% N = 22
18-30
21% N = 162
31-44
25% N = 207
45-64
32% N = 261
65+
19% N = 154
Democrat (with leaners)
50% N = 354
Independent
17% N = 118
Republican (with leaners)
33% N = 240
White
53% N = 400
Black
14% N = 104
Hispanic/Latino/a
24% N = 178
Asian
7% N = 55
Other/Multi-racial
2% N = 16
No college degree
55% N = 447
College degree or more
45% N = 350
Question Wording and Order
NJ1-NJ4 Held for future release
NJ5. The local media has an important role in informing the public, covering important issues, and holding officials accountable. On the whole, do you think the local media in New Jersey is doing a good job in these roles, a fair job, or a poor job?
- Good
- Fair
- Poor
- [Don’t Know/Refused]
E1. [Half of the Respondents get this question here; half get it after E3] Do you think abortion should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?
- Legal under any circumstances
- Legal only under certain circumstances
- Illegal in all circumstances
- [Don’t Know/Refused]
E2. Later this year, there will be an election for members of Congress, and for some other offices. How likely do you think it is that you’ll vote in that election? Would you say that you are…
- Certain or Almost Certain to vote
- Very Likely to vote
- Somewhat Likely to vote
- Not Very Likely to vote
- Almost certainly will not vote
- Already Voted [Note: not volunteered in the TTW]
- [Don’t Know/Refused]
E3. [Ask only if E2 is not 5] In the race for the House of Representatives in your district, do you think you’ll vote for the Republican candidate, or the Democratic candidate [switch order]?
- Republican
- Democrat
- Someone Else [vol]
- [Don’t Know/Refused]
D1. In politics today, do you consider yourself a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or something else?
- Democrat
- Republican
- Independent [ASK D1A]
- Something Else/Other
- DK/Ref
D1A. [Ask only if D1 is 3] Which way do you lean?
- Democrat
- Republican
- Independent
- Something Else/Other
- DK/Ref
Further questions held for later release
Release Tables
|
The local media has an important role in informing the public, covering important issues, and holding officials accountable. On the whole, do you think the local media in New Jersey is doing a good job in these roles, a fair job, or a poor job? |
||||
|
|
All |
Democrat |
Republican |
Indp |
|
Good |
12% |
19% |
5% |
10% |
|
Fair |
35% |
46% |
19% |
33% |
|
Poor |
41% |
20% |
73% |
47% |
|
[Vol] Don’t Know/Refused |
11% |
15% |
3% |
10% |
|
The local media has an important role in informing the public, covering important issues, and holding officials accountable. On the whole, do you think the local media in New Jersey is doing a good job in these roles, a fair job, or a poor job? |
|||
|
|
All |
Under 30 |
30 and over |
|
Good |
12% |
6% |
14% |
|
Fair |
35% |
58% |
29% |
|
Poor |
41% |
20% |
46% |
|
[Vol] Don’t Know/Refused |
11% |
16% |
10% |
|
The local media has an important role in informing the public, covering important issues, and holding officials accountable. On the whole, do you think the local media in New Jersey is doing a good job in these roles, a fair job, or a poor job? |
|||
|
|
All |
No Degree |
4 yr College Degree |
|
Good |
12% |
12% |
13% |
|
Fair |
35% |
40% |
30% |
|
Poor |
41% |
38% |
44% |
|
[Vol] Don’t Know/Refused |
11% |
10% |
13% |