Poll: Majority of N.J. voters oppose Gov. Christie's education cuts, teacher merit pay
Published: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 4:38 PM Updated: Wednesday, November 10, 2010, 4:38 PM
N.J. Gov. Chris Christie before a town hall meeting hosted by GOP nominee for California governor Meg Whitman.A majority of New Jersey voters oppose Gov. Chris Christie’s hefty state aid cuts and his plan to link teacher pay to student test scores, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released today.
Fifty-nine percent of registered voters said the state is underfunding education and 63 percent oppose merit pay, one of the key education reform proposals Christie unveiled at a town hall meeting in late September.
A large majority, 70 percent, of those surveyed do, however, support the governor’s intentions to overhaul teacher tenure, responding that tenure impedes the removal of bad teachers.
“New Jerseyans generally support their schools and want to see them better funded, even while they want the state to cut back on funding in other areas,” said David