New Jersey voters want Senator Menendez to resign amid bribery allegations, according to a recent poll.
A recent poll in New Jersey has found that a majority of voters in the state have an unfavorable view of Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat representing New Jersey. Additionally, more than half of the respondents expressed a desire for Senator Menendez to resign from his political position.
Senator Menendez and his wife, Nadine, are facing charges from the Justice Department related to a bribery scheme, with allegations that he acted as a foreign agent for Egypt.
Approximately 80% of the surveyed New Jersey residents indicated that they were either very familiar or somewhat familiar with the charges brought against Senator Menendez, while 20% had little to no knowledge of the case.
The poll revealed that 71% of voters wish for Senator Menendez to step down from his role, with only 8% supporting his continuation in office. This sentiment is shared across party lines, with both Democrats and Republicans, at 78% and 79% respectively, believing that he should resign.
The survey was conducted by the Stockton Polling Institute at the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy between October 9th and 18th and involved 630 adult residents of New Jersey. It utilized a combination of text invitations and phone calls, with 92% of interviews conducted via cellphones and 8% through landlines.
The collected data was weighted based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s ACS 2021 data for New Jersey, considering factors such as age, race, education level, and sex. The poll had a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percentage points.
In addition to the existing charges, Senator Menendez is now facing another allegation of acting as a foreign agent and accepting substantial bribes with the intent of benefiting the Egyptian government through his influence as a Senator. This information is according to a superseding indictment filed by a grand jury in Manhattan this month.
A superseding indictment is a formal legal document issued by a grand jury, which replaces and expands upon a prior indictment in a criminal case. This is typically done when new evidence or charges emerge after an initial indictment has been issued.
In response to these new charges, Senator Menendez has denied them in a statement to Fox News Digital, emphasizing his loyalty to the United States and stating that he has always been “loyal to only one country – the United States of America.”
Senator Menendez, his wife, and three New Jersey businessmen – Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes – were initially charged in the federal bribery scheme on September 23rd.
The indictment specifies that, among other actions, Senator Menendez provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took various steps to secretly aid the Government of Egypt. It also alleges that he, as a public official, corruptly demanded and accepted something of value in return for being influenced in the performance of official acts, in violation of his official duties.
