Poll indicates voters want McGreevey to leave November 15

New Jersey voters believe Gov. James E. McGreevey should stay in office until his chosen resignation date of November 15, but a large majority say it would be a "bad thing" if he changed his mind and didn't leave then, according to a new poll. The Quinnipiac University poll, released Wednesday, found that 56% believe he should stay until November 15, while 41% believe he should leave office immediately. But 61% expect him to keep his word and step down on the set date. Only 30% thought it wouldn't be bad for the governor to change his mind and stay to the end of his term. "New Jersey voters tell Governor McGreevey it's OK to wait until November 15 to resign, but please close the door firmly behind you," said Maurice Carroll, director of Quinnipiac's Polling Institute. Those polled were evenly split at 48% each on whether McGreevey should have resigned after his August 12 announcement that he is gay and had had an extramarital affair with a man. "But they say, 2-1, that he'd better stick with the plan and leave November 15," Carroll said. The poll also found that McGreevey wouldn't have much of a chance of getting elected to any statewide public office if he ever decided to run again. Forty-nine percent said it's "not likely at all" that they would vote for him, and 13% said it's "not too likely." Only 35% said it was "very likely" or "somewhat likely" that he would ever get their vote in the future. Voters disapproved of McGreevey's overall performance by 51% to 40%. Those numbers are similar to those in polls taken just before and after the governor announced his resignation. The poll did find that 57% of voters believe McGreevey can lead the state effectively until November 15. The Quinnipiac poll, conducted September 16-19, surveyed 943 registered voters. It has a sampling error margin of plus or minus three percentage points.