Phil Murphy, the Wizard of OZ? Well the New Jersey Primary election is over now and we know who is running for governor. It is not like we really didn’t know beforehand what the outcome would be. I. For one, am not surprised at all.

Somehow it seems more like the movie “The Wizard of Oz,” rather than real life. Don’t look behind the curtain to see who really is running the show. That is the scene where Dorothy asks the wizard if he can help her to get home and it turns out that he is just a regular man hiding behind the facade trying to be something much more than he is. To me that is a very good description of our present governor.

Phil Murphy has been hiding behind the Covid-19 pandemic. With his constant commands (emergency orders) and too frequent news briefings. There is and was no reason for him to hold so many of these news briefings personally. That is what his Press Secretary, Alyana Alfaro, is there for. And yet Murphy had to show the people of New Jersey that he was in charge by personally being there. No proxy for him!

The people of New Jersey have been polled and here is what they say. Per NJ.com “The Rutgers-Eagleton survey released Monday shows 55% of the state’s adults approve of Murphy’s performance, while 40% disapprove. That’s down from 62% approval in the group’s last poll, from October, and 77% approval from May 2020, when the pandemic was in its early stages.” And it was “43% in a November 2018 survey, according to Rutgers-Eagleton’s polling.”

To me it seems that the more Murphy showed his face to the news media, the higher his public approval rating is. Now that the crisis is just about over his approval rating has dropped. Will Murphy stir-up something to again put himself in the public spotlight? Only time will tell. But, as I am not a betting man my belief is that he will. Otherwise how can he win the people over and gain the governor’s chair for a second term?

Our state is overtaxed and fiscally out of control. Murphy does not promise that taxes will go down, instead he wants to raise them!

Will his Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, make inroads into Murphy’s support base? Maybe if he can expose that man behind the curtain that I alluded to earlier. Is Ciattarelli better for New Jersey?

My answer is yes and no. No one’s perfect. Governor Murphy is very far from that goal. So Jack come and prove that you are the better pick for Governor of New Jersey. This campaign season even might be interesting. Only time will tell.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike

#NewJersey #PhilMurphy #JackCiattarelli