FDU Poll Finds NJ Narrowly Favors School Cell Phone Ban

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NJ Narrowly Favors School Cell Phone Ban

Voters want limits on gambling ads

Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, NJ, March 7, 2025 – In his State of the State address, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy called for a ban on cellphones in public schools, but voters are split, backing a ban by a relatively close margin. According to the latest results from the FDU Poll, older voters strongly favor such a ban, while younger ones oppose it. The survey also asked about limits on sports betting ads, an idea which attracts overwhelming support across demographic and political groups.

Overall, 49 percent of New Jersey voters say that the state should ban cell phones in public schools, with 45 percent opposing such a ban. Republicans (56 percent) are much more likely to support a ban than Democrats (39 percent). White voters are also more likely to support a ban (51 percent) than Black (39 percent) or Hispanic voters (43 percent), in line with the partisan divide.

The biggest driver of views on a cell phone ban is age. Fully 70 percent of the youngest voters – those 30 and under – oppose a ban; among the oldest voters (those 65 and up), this is basically flipped, with 65 percent supporting a ban.

“The generation gap in politics is real, and I can’t think of a better example,” said Dan Cassino, a Professor of Government and Politics at FDU, and the executive director of the Poll. “Of course, politics tends to be much more likely to follow the wishes of older voters than younger ones.”

In contrast to the divided opinions on a cell phone ban, New Jersey voters support limits on when and where ads for gambling can be shown by a wide margin, with 76 percent in favor of limits, and only 17 percent opposed. Support is high among both Democrats (81 percent) and Republicans (74 percent), and while older voters are more likely to support limits (79 percent) than younger ones, even among the youngest cohort, seventy percent favor limits.

“If either party is looking for a slam dunk issue in New Jersey, this is it,’ said Cassino. “Even the groups most likely to take part in gambling, like young men, seem to be fed up with all of the ads.”

Methodology

The survey was conducted between February 23 and 28, 2025, using a voter list of registered voters in New Jersey carried out by Braun Research of Princeton, New Jersey. Respondents were contacted via either live caller telephone interviews, or text-to-web surveys sent to cellular phones, resulting in an overall sample of 1,476 registered voters in the state, including an oversample of Newark residents who were randomly assigned to some, but not all, of the sections in the main survey. The data presented in this release contains approximately 240 respondents from this oversample. Surveys were carried out via live caller telephone interviews to landlines (191) and cellphones (319) and the remainder (966) were done on a web platform via weblinks sent via SMS to cell phones. Surveys were conducted only in English.

The data were weighted to be representative of the population of registered voters in New Jersey. The weights used, like all weights, balance the demographic characteristics of the sample to match known population parameters. The weighted results used here are balanced to match parameters for sex, age, education and race/ethnicity. This weighting process means that the oversample of Newark resident, carried out in conjunction with a simultaneous poll of Newark residents, does not skew the results of the poll towards any particular group, and the results are not substantively different if this oversample is not included in the results.

SPSSINC RAKE, an SPSS extension module that simultaneously balances the distributions of all variables using the GENLOG procedure, was used to produce final weights. Weights were trimmed to prevent individual interviews from having too much influence on the final results. The use of these weights in statistical analysis helps to ensure that the demographic characteristics of the sample approximate the demographic characteristics of the target population. The size of these weights is used to construct the measure of design effects, which indicate the extent to which the reported results are being driven by the weights applied to the data, rather than found in the data itself. Simply put, these design effects tell us how many additional respondents would have been needed to get the weighted number of respondents across weighted categories: larger design effects indicate greater levels of under-representation in the data. In this case, calculated design effects are approximately 1.3, largely driven by the weights used on the race/ethnicity variable.

All surveys are subject to sampling error, which is the expected probable difference between interviewing everyone in a population versus a scientific sampling drawn from that population. Sampling error should be adjusted to recognize the effect of weighting the data to better match the population. In this poll, the simple sampling error for 1,476 registered voters is +/-2.9 percentage points, at a 95 percent confidence interval. Including the design effects, the margin of error would be +/-3.8 percentage points, though the figure not including them is much more commonly reported.

This error calculation does not take into account other sources of variation inherent in public opinion studies, such as non-response, question wording, differences in translated forms, or context effects. While such errors are known to exist, they are often unquantifiable within a particular survey, and all efforts, such as randomization and extensive pre-testing of items, have been used to minimize them.

The FDU Poll is a proud member of the AAPOR Transparency Initiative and is devoted to ensuring that our results are presented in such a way that anyone can quickly and easily get all of the information that they may need to evaluate the validity of our surveys. We believe that transparency is the key to building trust in the work of high-quality public opinion research, and necessary to push our industry forward.

Weighted Telephone Sample Characteristics

1,476 Registered Voters in New Jersey

Figures do not include individuals who declined to answer demographic items.

Man                                

47%                 N = 698

Woman                            

51%                 N = 754

Some Other Way          

0.4%               N = 4

 

18-30                          

17%                N = 251

31-44                          

23%                 N = 336

45-64                          

36%                 N = 534

65+                              

24%                 N = 347

 

White                                           

67%                N = 987

Black                                              

13%                N = 190

Hispanic/Latino/a                                     

12%                N = 173

Asian                                       

3%                  N = 42

Other/Multi-racial                                    

3%                  N = 44

 

No college degree                      

54%                N = 790

College degree or more             

44%                N = 645

 

Democrat (including leaners)    

39%                N = 576

Independent (no lean)                

13%                N = 186

Republican (including leaners)    

29%                N = 430

 

Question Wording and Order

NJ1. One bill would ban students from having cell phones in all public schools. Students would have to leave the phones at home, or lock them up before coming into school. What do you think? Should the state ban students from having cell phones in public schools?

  1. Yes, should ban cell phones
  2. No, should not ban cell phones
  3. Don’t Know [Vol]
  4. Refused [Vol]

NJ2. There is also concern about the number of ads for sports betting and other kinds of gambling in New Jersey, especially when those ads are seen by children. Would you support or oppose limits on where and when ads for betting and gambling could be shown in New Jersey?

  1. Support limits on ads
  2. Oppose limits on ads
  3. Don’t Know [Vol]
  4. Refused [Vol]

[Intervening questions held for later release]

Now, we’d like to ask you a few questions about the upcoming Gubernatorial Election

D1. In politics today, do you consider yourself a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or something else? 

  1. Democrat                   
  2. Republican 
  3. Independent  [ASK D1A]                                                                                
  4. Something Else/Other                                   
  5. DK/Ref [vol]

D1A. [Ask only if D1 is 3] Which way do you lean?

  1. Democrat 
  2. Republican
  3. Independent                                                              
  4. Something Else/Other                                   
  5. DK/Ref [vol]

[Respondents only asked about candidates in their party; non-leaning independents excluded from candidate questions]

In June, both Republicans and Democrats will be having primary elections to pick their candidates for governor. I’m going to [read/show] you a list of potential candidates in this year’s race for Governor of New Jersey. For each, just tell me if you’ve heard of them or not, and, if you have heard of them, whether you have a favorable or unfavorable view of them.

[Order of Names  Randomized

D1. Democratic Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop

D2. Democratic Member of Congress Mikie Sherrill

D3. Democratic Member of Congress Josh Gottheimer

D4. Democratic Newark Mayor Ras Baraka

D5. Democratic Former State Senator Steve Sweeney

D6. Democratic Former Mayor of Montclair/ President of the NJEA Sean Spiller [Randomize how this candidate is presented: half get Montclair Mayor, half get NJEA president]

R1. Republican Talk Show Host Bill Spadea

R2. Republican State Senator Jon Bramnick

R3. Republican Former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli

R4. Republican Former State Senator Ed Durr

  1. Haven’t Heard of Them
  2. Favorable Opinion
  3. Unfavorable Opinion
  4. Heard of Them, No Opinion
  5. Don’t Know [Vol]
  6. Refused [Vol]

[Intervening questions held for later release]

Just a few more questions, for statistical purposes

D1B. Which of the following terms would you use to describe your political views? You can choose as many as you like. [Shuffle Order]

  1. Liberal
  2. Moderate
  3. Conservative
  4. Socialist
  5. Progressive
  6. Libertarian
  7. Make America Great Again or MAGA
  8. Nationalist

D2A. To ensure we are reaching people of all ages, would you please tell me your age?

            ____    (ENTER AGE: 98=98+, 99 = REFUSED)

            [IF Don’t Know/REFUSED IN QD1, ASK:] 

D2B.  Would you be willing to tell us whether it’s between…?

  1. Under 30
  2. 31 to 44
  3. 45 to 64
  4. 65 or over
  5. [Refused]

D3. What was the last grade in school you completed? [CODE TO LIST]

  1. Did not complete High School
  2. High School Diploma or equivalent
  3. Vocational or Trade School
  4. Some college, but no degree
  5. Associates, or other 2 year degree
  6. Bachelor’s Degree
  7. Graduate work, such as Law, MBA, Medical School, or similar
  8. Refused (VOL)

D4. How would you describe your sex? Do you describe yourself as …

  1. A Man
  2. A Woman
  3. Some other way
  4. [DK/REF]

D5. How would you describe your racial and ethnic background? You can pick as many as you’d like.

  1. White
  2. Black
  3. Asian 
  4. Hispanic/Latino/a/Spanish
  5. Other or Multi-Racial
  6. [Dk/Ref]

 

Release Tables

One bill would ban students from having cell phones in all public schools. Students would have to leave the phones at home, or lock them up before coming into school. What do you think? Should the state ban students from having cell phones in public schools?

 

Overall

Dem

Indp

Rep

Yes, should ban

49%

39%

64%

56%

No, should not ban

45%

54%

33%

38%

Don’t Know

6%

7%

3%

5%

Refused

0%

0%

–

1%

 

One bill would ban students from having cell phones in all public schools. Students would have to leave the phones at home, or lock them up before coming into school. What do you think? Should the state ban students from having cell phones in public schools?

 

Men

Women

White

Black

Hispanic

Yes, should ban

54%

43%

51%

39%

43%

No, should not ban

40%

50%

43%

56%

49%

Don’t Know

5%

7%

5%

5%

9%

Refused

0%

0%

0%

–

–

 

One bill would ban students from having cell phones in all public schools. Students would have to leave the phones at home, or lock them up before coming into school. What do you think? Should the state ban students from having cell phones in public schools?

 

Overall

30 & Under

31-44

45-64

65+

Yes, should ban

49%

23%

40%

56%

65%

No, should not ban

45%

70%

52%

38%

29%

Don’t Know

6%

7%

8%

6%

4%

Refused

0%

–

–

–

1%

 

There is also concern about the number of ads for sports betting and other kinds of gambling in New Jersey, especially when those ads are seen by children. Would you support or oppose limits on where and when ads for betting and gambling could be shown in New Jersey?

 

Overall

Dem

Indp

Rep

Support limits on ads

76%

81%

69%

74%

Oppose limits on ads

17%

14%

21%

18%

Don’t Know

7%

5%

9%

8%

Refused

0%

0%

1%

–

 

 

There is also concern about the number of ads for sports betting and other kinds of gambling in New Jersey, especially when those ads are seen by children. Would you support or oppose limits on where and when ads for betting and gambling could be shown in New Jersey?

 

Men

Women

White

Black

Hispanic

Support limits on ads

73%

79%

77%

68%

71%

Oppose limits on ads

20%

14%

16%

24%

20%

Don’t Know

8%

7%

7%

8%

9%

Refused

0%

0%

–

–

1%

 

There is also concern about the number of ads for sports betting and other kinds of gambling in New Jersey, especially when those ads are seen by children. Would you support or oppose limits on where and when ads for betting and gambling could be shown in New Jersey?

 

Overall

30 & Under

31-44

45-64

65+

Support limits on ads

76%

70%

73%

78%

79%

Oppose limits on ads

17%

24%

16%

16%

13%

Don’t Know

7%

5%

11%

6%

7%

Refused

0%

–

–

1%

–

 

Media Contact:  

Dan Cassino 

Executive Director, FDU Poll    

973.896.7072/ dcassino@fdu.edu

 

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