What Google Search Data Says About New Jersey Midterm Elections | State and region

The New Jersey midterm elections may not be as contentious as the U.S. Senate elections in Pennsylvania and Georgia, but the stakes are high when voters head to the polls on Nov. 8.

Recent polls and search engine traffic data suggest that, like many Americans, most New Jersey voters are focused on the economy.

According to the Google Trends Search Traffic Index, New Jersey ranks among the most popular states for election-related searches. And over the past two weeks, wages have dominated Google’s ranking of the most popular political topics in New Jersey, ahead of health care in only a handful of cases.

Abortion, inflation and Social Security round out the list for the past two weeks.

Google cautions that its data is a measure of voters’ curiosity, not their intent.

New Jersey Public Interest Survey

Google’s index found similar results from a recent Eagleton Center For Public Interest Polling survey of New Jersey voters’ priorities this election cycle.

The poll found that when it comes to the congressional race, the economy is ranked as the number one issue, with 16% of registered voters calling it the most important issue. Reproductive and women’s issues came in second at 9%, followed by taxes and party and ideological values ​​at third at 8%. Inflation became the biggest concern at only 5%.

“When we get down to it, [the economy] it’s usually the number one question voters consider when it’s time to go to the polls,” said Ashley Koning, executive director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling. “It’s a major factor … one of the major factors in voter choice when you look at election cycles, between that and the president’s approval rating.”

Independent and Republican voters were more likely to cite the economy as their top concern, according to the poll. At the same time, Democrats were more likely to favor reproductive rights.

The poll also suggests that a majority of New Jerseyans believe the country is on the wrong track, though most give Democrats the edge in this year’s congressional races.

“I always like to think of New Jersey as a microcosm of the country itself,” Koning said. “Because we really have a lot of those red and blue areas, and they’re usually a lot more purple … when it comes to our statewide and local elections than we are nationally.”

District 7 can help determine the partisan leanings of Congress

There are 12 electoral districts in New Jersey. Democrats hold seats in nine districts, while Republicans hold seats in three. Most districts are expected to remain unchanged.

Still, many pundits expect GOP candidate Tom Kean to beat incumbent Democrat Tom Malinowski in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District after she added more Republican strongholds during the latest round of congressional redistricting. Voters in the region supported Republican candidate Jack Ciatrelli during last year’s gubernatorial election.

“She’s leaning Republican simply because of the changing demographics of the district,” said Mika Rasmussen, executive director of the New Jersey Rebovich Institute of Politics. “There are about 40,000 more Republicans in the district now than there were two years ago.”

Keane and Malinowski participated in three debates where they discussed their plans on some of the issues most important to New Jersey voters.

Rasmussen said inflation has become a recurring theme.

“Tom Kean is certainly going after Malinowski, as are most Republicans, for causing a lot of the inflation we’re dealing with right now with excessive government spending on the pandemic,” Rasmussen said.

“[Malinowski] says, “Okay, that’s a fair criticism. However, it would have been much worse if we had not acted then, if we had acted, the economy would have collapsed,” he said.

Regarding abortion, Malinowski supports the human right to choose. Keen’s position was more difficult to assess.

“[Kean] says that he is for the sanctity of life. He says that he is in favor of a woman’s right to choose. And he says he’s in favor of reasonable restrictions and reasonable exceptions for the life of the mother and for rape and incest,” Rasmussen said. “The criticism is that many of these positions sound as if they are mutually exclusive.”

The Oct. 17 Axios Search Traffic Index shows that people in the 7th Congressional District are most interested in jobs, taxes, former President Donald Trump, Ukraine and China.

NBC News reports that this is one of about 30 elections that could determine which party controls the House of Representatives next January. The district is also the seventh richest congressional district in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.