Poll: New Jersey Voters Approve Of Christie's Ebola Work
WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A new poll finds that a majority of New Jersey voters approve of Gov. Chris Christie's policies on Ebola screenings and quarantines.
The Monmouth University Poll finds that 53 percent approve of the way Christie has handled the issue. That's a contrast to the federal government's response. Less than two-fifths of voters approve of it.
"Gov. Christie has made a good read of how uneasy the public is with the seemingly uncertain response from the feds," Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement. "The Ebola issue has offered him an opportunity to take on the mantle of leadership."
The poll also finds voters have followed the matter closely.
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Christie last month announced tougher protocols than the federal government has imposed. As a result of his policies, a nurse who had worked in Sierra Leone but said she did not have symptoms was quarantined in Newark. Ninety-five percent of voters said they were aware of the story.
Only about one-fourth of the voters said they believed that Eblola poses a major public health risk in New Jersey. Seven in 10 said it was a minor threat or none at all.
The poll found that voters held similar assessments of the threat of Ebola in New Jersey regardless of their demographic profile.
But Republicans were more likely to approve of Christie's handling of it. Independents were evenly split on whether the Republican governor and potential 2016 presidential candidate has handled it well.
The telephone poll of 802 randomly selected registered voters was conducted Oct. 30 through Nov. 2. It has a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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