( J and among them 30% say they arc liberals and 70% conserative.

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1 RUT ERS UNIVERSITY The S/arc (Inir. crsüy of.vcrt Jersey RELEASE (FOR RELEASE ONTAT: WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON FEBRUARY 21, 1973 STEPHEN SALMORE THE EAGLETON lncl ITU I EOF POliTIS l1 ood Luau, Nrilson ampus New Th,, 725(11(4. New /c. rscy 0890! Tel &-22t0 There is more to party politics in New Jersey than just Democrats and Republicans, An analysis of voter s responses to the New Jersey Poll, conducted by phone this January from the Eagleton Institute, shows that both Democrats and Republicans are made up of liberal and conservative factions. Of the 1225 New Jerseyans interviewed, 47% identified themselves as Democrats. Of this group, liberal Democrats make up 68% and their attitudes on political questions are often markedly different from the 32% who call themselves ( J and among them 30% say they arc liberals and 70% conserative. Among the renair!ng conservative Democrats. The Republican party claims the loyalty of 30% of Jerseyans, members of the electorate 18% are independents and 4% cannot be classified. Differences between liberal and conservative Democrats can he seen clearly in these two groups choice for President last November. Liberal Democrats gave 76% of their balidts to George McGovern, and only 24% to Richard Nixon. onservative Democrats, however, deserted their party s nominee in much greater numbers, actually favoring Nixon by a small margin, Among Republicans, Nixon held the loyalty of both liberals and conservatives. Nixon received the votes of 96% of the conservative Republicans while only 4% voted for McGovern (J, Among liberal Republicans, he did almost as well, overwhelming McGovern Differences belween liberal Democrats and conservative Democrats also appear in their votes for congressmen. All but l7tøcf the liberal Democrats votlnq for -more-

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3 2r Nixon came back to their party in the congressional race. 1-lowever, among the conservalive Democrats defecting to the Republican candidate in the Presidential race, only 65% voted for a Democratic congressman, while 35% remained on the Republican line when choosing a congressional candidate. Somewhat different patterns of partisan attitudes appear when looking at state politics. In rating Governor ahill s performance, Republicans split down the middle. Among liberal Republicans 47% gave ahill an excellent or good rating versus 49% calling it fair or poor. onservative Republicans gave the governor a similar rating. However, the difference in perceptions of the governor between liberal and conservative Democrats is quite striking. ahill s rating among liberal Democrats is 38 57, but among conservative Democrats it falls to Even more interesting differences emerge when respondents were asked if their opinion of the governor had changed for the better or worse over the last two years. Although most respondents reported no change, among liberal Democrats 16% said their opinion of ahill was better and 11% said it was worse. For conservative Democrats this pattern reversed with 9% responding better and 12% worse. onservative Republicans report their opinion of ahill has shifted the most sharply with 9% saying better while 21% say worse. Liberal Republicans appear to be more satlsfied --13% say better and 10% worse. The governor appears to have improved his standing among liberals of both parties- a change that sits least well with conservative Republicans. Public approval of the state legislature is also distributed quite differently among the state s partisan and ideological groups. Liberal Republicans, with a positive-negative rating, and conservative Democrats, at 37-49, are more favorably disposed to the stale legislature than conservative Republicans at and -more-

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5 3 liberal Democrats at According to Alan Rosenthal, this pattern of results about the state legislature can be explained by the fact that it is the liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans who feel most strongly that their interests are not well represented in the present state legislature. The Fifth New ersey Poll was conducted by telephone between January S and 11 from the Eagleton Institute. The results were tabulated by Opinion Research orp. of Princeton, N.J. The New Jersey Poll is supported by grants from the Wallace Eljabar Foundation and the Eagleton Institute of Politics. opyright, The Eagieton Institute

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7 RUTGERS UNIVERSITY Tue State University of New Jersey TIlE EALETON INSTTUE (Th POLITIS Ir a Lan,,, jvrilson an pus N,t Thunsn ick, Nm feisty Tel TO: POLITIAL REPORTERS FROM: STEPHEN SALMORE RE: NEW JERSEY POLL, RELEASE *10, WEDNESDAYAFTERNOON, FEB. 21, 1973 The data on which this analysis is based are as follow. Vote in November * Liberal onservative Liberal onservative Democrat Democart Republican Repu blican Independent President Rep. ongress Rep President-Rep. ongress Dem resident-dem. ongress-rep President-Dem. ongress Dem *Only includes those respondents who reported their Presidential and ongressional choices. Evaluation of Governor Excellent Good Fair Poor Don t Know Evaluation of Legislature Excellent Good pair , cor Don t Know

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