New Poll Finds Many New Jersey Residents Plan To Return To Favorite Shore Towns
By Mark Abrams
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- As New Jersey beach towns continue rebuilding in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, a new poll finds many Garden State residents are planning to come back to their favorite shore spots this summer.
A Quinnipiac University poll finds a high degree of optimism that much of the damage will be repaired and beaches will be ready to go come the summer season.
"85 percent of New Jerseyans are not going to change their vacation plans because of Hurricane Sandy," says Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac Polling Institute. "An awful lot of them are going to go back to the seashore."
Carroll says a lot of that is based on the work Governor Chris Christie has done to help the shore towns. He says the poll also found 85 percent of those surveyed like the job Christie is doing on Sandy recovery.
And, he says, they support building sand dunes and sea walls to protect ocean front communities.
"72 percent of New Jerseyans tell Quinnipiac they think New Jersey, the state, has the right to build the dunes to protect the homeowners who may or may not be able to see the ocean," he says.
Carroll says 74 percent of those polled also give high marks to their local governments and their response in Sandy's aftermath.