FDU Poll: NJ Voters Support Any Plan to Cut Energy Bills

Seventy-six percent of New Jersey voters want new natural gas plants built. That’s not a fringe position. That’s the headline number from a new Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll conducted with the International Union of Operating Engineers, and it’s the kind of cross-partisan consensus that Trenton doesn’t see very often.

Republican support for new gas plants lands at 83 percent. But here’s what’s interesting: 70 percent of Democrats said yes too. Among self-identified MAGA voters, support hits 90 percent. Among progressives, it’s still 60 percent. You can argue about a lot of things in Jersey politics right now, but voters from one end of the spectrum to the other agree electricity bills are too high and they want power built fast.

Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University and executive director of the FDU Poll, said the data doesn’t fit neatly into the usual left-right energy fights. “Even voters who might prefer green energy options want something done fast,” Cassino said. “Electricity bills are up right now, and voters are in favor of anything that can be done to bring them down in the short term.”

The word “anything” is backed up by the numbers. Eighteen percent of respondents said they support all four of the proposals the poll tested, which included new gas plants, expanded nuclear capacity, more renewables, and a ban on new data center construction that would put additional strain on the grid. Another 40 percent backed three of the four. Just 10 percent couldn’t get behind at least two proposals. That’s not ideological. That’s frustration with electric bills, looking for a way out.

Gas plants poll highest because they can come online faster than nuclear or utility-scale renewables. That’s the practical reality. But the poll also shows voters don’t want to stop there. They want nuclear expanded. They want more renewable generation in the mix. They want the state to stop letting new data centers soak up grid capacity before new generation can cover the gap.

Greg Lalevee, business manager for InsiderNJ IUOE Local 825, said workers in New Jersey understand the stakes plainly. “The state needs to expand capacity, and voters don’t seem to care too much how we do it, so long as it gets done,” Cassino said.

Lalevee pointed to Governor Mikie Sherrill’s campaign push for an all-of-the-above generation strategy as the right framework, specifically because it doesn’t lock the state into a single source and keeps options open for hydrogen production once that technology matures. The FDU results suggest Sherrill’s pitch landed with the public, at least on the substance.

Cassino didn’t let the current legislative proposals off the hook, though. Freezing rate increases might buy some political breathing room, but it’s not a fix. “Freezing electric bills helps, but it doesn’t solve the long-term problem or bring costs back down to where they used to be,” he said. The longer-term numbers are what should worry Trenton. Voters want costs to fall, not just stop rising, and a rate freeze doesn’t get them there.

The full poll results, including breakdowns by party and ideology, are available through the Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll. IUOE Local 825 represents workers across New Jersey’s construction and operating trades, and the union’s partnership with FDU on the survey reflects the industry’s direct stake in what gets built and how fast it gets built.

“The state needs to expand capacity, and voters don’t seem to care too much how we do it, so long as it gets done,” Cassino said.