Overwhelming majority of New Jerseyans fall on one side of Sen Menendez scandal: poll

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Menendez pleads not guilty to foreign agent charges

FOX News’ Bryan Llenas reports on charges that accuse New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez of secretly promising to act on behalf of Egypt in return for bribes.

A majority of New Jersey voters have an unfavorable view of Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., according to a recent poll, and more than half want him to resign from his post.

Menendez and his wife, Nadine, were recently charged by the Justice Department in a bribery scheme for which he is facing allegations of acting as a foreign agent for Egypt.

A majority of residents, about 80%, were either very familiar or somewhat familiar with the charges while 1 in 5 had little to no knowledge of the case. 

Seventy-one percent of voters want him to resign and only 8% support his continuation in office. Both Democrats and Republicans, at 78% and 79%, respectively, believe he should step down, the poll found.

DEMOCRAT SEN BOB MENENDEZ ACCUSED OF ACTING AS FOREIGN AGENT IN SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT

Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey arrives at the federal courthouse in New York City on Sept. 27, 2023. (AP Photo / Seth Wenig)

The poll, conducted by the Stockton Polling Institute of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy from Oct. 9-18, involved 630 New Jersey adult residents and utilized a combination of text invitations and phone calls, with 92% of interviews conducted on cellphones and 8% on landlines.

The data was weighted based on U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2021 data for New Jersey, considering variables like age, race, education level and sex, and it had a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percentage points.

MENENDEZ, NOW SUSPECTED OF ACTING AS FOREIGN AGENT, HAS HISTORY OF BLOCKING FARA REFORM BILLS

Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and his wife, Nadine, arrive at the federal courthouse in New York City on Sept. 27, 2023. (AP Photo / Jeenah Moon)

Menendez is facing an additional charge of acting as a foreign agent and accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to benefit the Egyptian government through his "power and influence as a Senator," according to the superseding indictment filed by a grand jury in Manhattan this month.

A superseding indictment is a formal document issued by a grand jury that replaces and expands upon a previous indictment in a criminal case. It is used when new evidence or charges arise after an initial indictment has been issued. In a statement to Fox News Digital after publication, Menendez denied the new charges and insisted he has always been "loyal to only one country – the United States of America."

Menendez, along with his wife and three New Jersey businessmen – Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes – were first charged in the federal bribery scheme on Sept. 23.

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Sen. Bob Menendez holds a press conference as he rejects accusations of corruption and calls from fellow Democrats to step down from Congress on Sept. 25, 2023. (Fatih Aktas / Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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"Among other actions, MENENDEZ provided sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt," the indictment states.

"It was a part and an object of the conspiracy that ROBERT MENENDEZ, the defendant, and others known and unknown, being a public official, directly and indirectly, would and did corruptly demand, seek, receive, accept, and agree to receive and accept something of value personally and for another person and entity, in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act and for being induced to do an act and omit to do an act in violation of his official duty," the indictment reads.