well the state is waiting to see who Governor Murphy selects as the successor to the late lieutenant governor Sheila Oliver New Jersey's Constitution gives the administration 45 days to appoint someone to fill the remainder of the term and according to a New Monmouth University poll out today the majority of residents don't think race and gender should be a factor in Murphy's decision Oliver was the first black woman elected to a Statewide office in New Jersey history but about 83 percent of those polled say that shouldn't come into consideration when the governor names a replacement while 15 percent of residents think he should appoint another person of color for more on that and a temperature check on whether the public thinks the governor is doing a good job in office I'm joined by Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray hey welcome to you good to see you uh interesting findings let's talk first about how people felt uh when considering these two I'll say really major factors I was surprised by these numbers because of how much emphasis the governor has put on diversity now I didn't expect these numbers to be you know hugely in a majority saying you know the opposite 80 saying right should be important but among his key constituent groups which have been talking about Democratic party has been talking about represent representation and the importance of that for all along even if we look among Democrats if we look among you know female Democrats 34 percent of female Democrats say that gender you know he should appoint another woman but that means that twice as many say that that shouldn't be a factor among uh black Democrats it's the same thing it's a little over a third who say he should Point another person of color but that means twice as many say race should not be a factor even amen among those those groups uh and I think it's the it's kind of interesting because what Sheila Oliver proved is that you know these these appointments are a token you you you have plenty of of folks across all genders all Races who are qualified to hold these jobs um and but still I think you know the kind of old American uh idea of it should be uh you know you we should be race blind we should be genderblind when making these appointments I think still comes through when people talk about these issues even though many within the party itself in the Democratic party say that that just the factor of representation is so important that's interesting yesterday I actually got a chance to speak with former lieutenant governor Kim godano the only other person who's held the office and she made what I found a striking point which was uh she doesn't want to see this role uh become a pigeonhole where it's the spot for women and particularly women of color that we don't uh you know aspire to put a woman or a woman of color in a higher office and I wonder if any of that mindset is going into this or if it's strictly as you mentioned this you know idea of being colorblind gender blind I think that because people don't understand that it's not just sitting around in you know ribbon cutting ceremonies that Lieutenant governors in New Jersey do have jobs to do uh that they might not realize that that's also a factor in in this and it's not just it's not just window dressing sure okay uh let me shift gears talk to me about how the public is feeling about Governor Murphy what are his approval ratings well right now his approval rating stands at 50 disapproval at 40 percent uh so that's still positive but it's not quite as positive as it has been throughout his second term uh certainly we saw the huge jump uh in his numbers up to above 70 when covid hit and that was true of almost any office holder in the country uh but uh you know he had a tighter than expected re-election race and his job approval numbers then were you know down around where they are right now uh close to 50 percent but the question even among Democrats is what's what's the major accomplishment what's the thing that we can point to uh for governor Murphy that says this is what his term in office was all about this was the Stamp that he left on the state of New Jersey and I think you still have quite a few people including Democrats who are not sure what that particular Hallmark issue is for for the Murphy Administration Patrick Murray is the director of the Monmouth University polling Institute Patrick good to see you as always same here Brianna [Music]