A poll commissioned by the Principled Veterans Fund, an outside political action committee that has connections to Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair), finds Sherrill and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka to be the early leaders in the 2025 Democratic primary for New Jersey governor.
The poll, which was conducted by the Democratic pollster GQR last month, puts Sherrill at 23% of the vote among likely Democratic primary voters, with Baraka narrowly behind at 20%. Former State Senate President Steve Sweeney is at 12%, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop is at 9%, and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) is at 5%.
Baraka, Sweeney, and Fulop are all declared candidates, while Sherrill and Gottheimer have not announced their plans but are considered possible contenders. Other candidates could also join the race for the governor’s office, which is currently held by term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, but they were not mentioned in the poll.
Although no candidate was involved in the commissioning of the poll, Principled Veterans Fund is closely connected to With Honor Fund, a PAC which has in turn spent more than $900,000 assisting Sherrill in her races for Congress over the last three cycles. The polling memo is clearly focused on arguing that Sherrill would be a strong gubernatorial candidate, should she enter the race.
“Sherrill is well positioned to win the 2025 gubernatorial primary,” the memo states. “She also has an advantage as the only woman in the race and among the voters most concerned about protecting abortion rights. She easily beats Gottheimer and Fulop in North Jersey while Sweeney manages only a third of the vote in South Jersey.”
The poll also tested the favorability ratings of all five candidates, and once again found that Sherrill and Baraka rise to the top of the heap.
Baraka has a favorable-unfavorable ratio of 38%-6%, while Sherrill is at 36%-7%. Gottheimer and Fulop have slightly more mixed ratios of 22%-10% and 21%-9%, respectively, while Sweeney has an underwater score of 23%-24%. Sweeney also has the highest name ID at 62%; Fulop’s is the lowest at 39%.
The poll is the first publicly released test of the 2025 Democratic gubernatorial primary, which is still a full 14 months away. It remains to be seen whether Sherrill’s and Baraka’s strengths hold up as the campaign continues – and whether independent pollsters find similar results to what Principled Veterans Fund released today.
The GQR Poll was conducted from March 7-12 with a sample size of 603 likely Democratic voters and a margin of error of +/- 4%.