Sherrill's 100-Day Approval Rating: Rutgers Poll Results

Mikie Sherrill is 100 days into running New Jersey, and a big chunk of the state still can’t decide what to think of her.

That’s the core takeaway from the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released this week. Forty-four percent of residents view her favorably, 29% unfavorably, and roughly a quarter haven’t formed an opinion. Another 3% say they don’t even know who she is.

Make of that what you will.

On job approval, the numbers run almost parallel: 45% approve, 29% disapprove, and 26% are still sitting on the fence. Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and assistant research professor there, said Sherrill’s numbers match up with where her predecessors were at the same early point in their terms. ROI-NJ first reported the Rutgers-Eagleton findings.

“Barely three months have passed since Gov. Sherrill has taken office, and while we see her continue to garner more positive reactions than negative ones, many of her constituents are still forming an opinion,” Koning said.

The poll also ran a letter-grade breakdown. Thirteen percent gave her an A, 30% a B, 19% a C, 11% a D, and 14% an F. Fourteen percent said they weren’t sure. Among residents who’d settled on a view, about 6 in 10 came down favorable, which Koning called “solid baseline numbers.”

Now here’s where it gets uncomfortable for the governor’s office.

On taxes and affordability, those grades crater. Only 5% gave Sherrill an A on cost of living. Only 6% gave her an A on taxes. Meanwhile, 30% handed her an F on affordability and 28% on taxes. Those are the two issues New Jerseyans have ranked most important year after year, and they’re the exact categories where her numbers are worst. Anyone who’s opened a property tax bill lately, or waited on a NJ Transit train that didn’t show up on time, already knew this fight was coming.

She holds up better on education, transportation, and public safety, where grades cluster toward the middle. But Koning’s description of her performance as “average across the board” isn’t the kind of phrase you put in a campaign ad.

There’s a gap worth mentioning between this poll and a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll published earlier this month, which had Sherrill’s approval at 58%. That’s a 13-point spread. Methodological differences between polling operations can drive those kinds of gaps, and the Rutgers-Eagleton survey has long been considered the most rigorous ongoing measure of New Jersey public opinion. The Fairleigh Dickinson number isn’t wrong to report, but context matters.

One more thing the poll can’t capture: it was conducted before April 8, 2026, when Sherrill signed legislation that generated real political noise across the state. Whatever movement that signing caused in public opinion won’t show up until the next round of data drops. The 365-day mark will be a more meaningful test than the 100-day snapshot.

Koning put it plainly. No governor can move the needle on taxes or affordability in 100 days, she said, especially not in a political environment this raw. What the Rutgers numbers do offer is a baseline. Sherrill’s got more people behind her than against her, she’s got a large pool of undecideds that could break either direction, and she’s heading into budget season with the two issues voters care most about still largely unresolved.

That’s not a crisis. It’s not a mandate either.