More than 6 in 10 New Jersey voters said Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez, who's facing federal bribery, fraud, and extortion charges, should resign, according to Monmouth University poll results released Thursday.
Menendez is facing his second corruption case in less than 10 years.
A total of 63% of New Jerseyans said Menendez should resign, and 33% said he should be allowed to wait, the survey found. Another 4% said they didn’t know.
Among Democrats, 59% said he should step down.
In September, Menendez and his wife Nadine Menendez pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing them of pocketing bribes of cash and gold bars in exchange for wielding his political influence to secretly advance Egyptian interests and do favors for local businessmen.
The senator was then charged in January with making positive comments about Qatar in exchange for luxury items in a superseding indictment. On Tuesday, the indictment was rewritten to add charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice against the senator and his wife.
The poll was taken Feb. 29-March 4, before the additional charges against Menendez and his wife were announced Tuesday. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
"Perhaps the stash of gold bars is a little too much to stomach. Or maybe it’s simply one corruption trial too many. In any event, New Jerseyans say they have had enough and it’s time for Menendez to go," said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, The Hill reported.
Menendez stepped down as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee shortly after the charges were announced in September, but he has rejected calls from his constituents and colleagues to resign.
The poll showed that 75% of residents said Menendez probably is guilty of the current charges, and only 5% said he is probably not guilty, with another 9% saying they don't know.
It also got bad for Menendez when participants were asked about his job performance, with 74% saying they disapprove against 16% who approve.
Even Democrats think poorly of Menendez, who got just 23% approval from voters in his party against 65% disapproving.
Large majorities of Republicans (82%) and independents (77%) also disapprove of Menendez’s job performance.
When Menendez faced federal corruption charges in 2015, 42% said they approved and 38% disapproved. Those charges were dismissed, and Menendez went on to win reelection in 2018.
"Throughout his prior legal ordeal, Menendez could at least count on the backing of most of his fellow Democrats. That support has now cratered and is unlikely to recover since the charges keep piling up," Murray said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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