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The Monmouth University Polling Institute released a survey on Tuesday, Apr. 16 that asked New Jerseyans what region they live in and if they believe their region gets a fair share of state resources. The pollsters also asked people to pick their favorite convenience store.
According to the poll, 41 percent of New Jerseyans said they live in North Jersey, 34 percent said they're in Central Jersey, and 23 percent said they're from South Jersey. Monmouth University defines regions based on counties and nearly nine out of every 10 New Jerseyans in the survey agreed with how their county is defined.
Some people disagreed with where their communities were defined. The pollsters pointed to an example of residents in the northern Somerset County towns of Bernardsville and Basking Ridge tending to see themselves as part of North Jersey instead of Central Jersey.
The regional description given by some other residents differed from geography. Some residents in the Morris County towns of Rockaway and Roxbury, along with Essex County "from the Oranges to Maplewood," also saw themselves as part of Central Jersey.
The poll showed two significant differences between how Monmouth defined the regions and how residents see themselves in Ocean and Union counties.
The pollsters defined all of Union County as part of North Jersey but nearly half of county residents view themselves as living in Central Jersey.
"Those residents tend to be located in a wedge of the county roughly defined as being west of State Route 27 and south of State Route 28," the polling institute said in a news release. "This includes the towns, or parts, of Clark, Cranford, Garwood, Plainfield, Rahway, Roselle, Roselle Park, Scotch Plains, Union Township, Westfield, and Winfield."
Down on the Jersey Shore, about half of Ocean County residents saw themselves as part of Central Jersey, despite Monmouth considering the entire county as South Jersey. Self-described Central Jerseyans tended to live in Jackson Township and Toms River north of County Route 571, as well as places like Bayhead, Brick Township, Lakewood, Lavallette, Mantoloking, Point Pleasant, Seaside Heights, and Seaside Park.
Monmouth's survey came almost eight months after Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, to redraw the state's tourism map, officially creating the Central Jersey region.
"Now that there is official recognition Central Jersey exists, it seems everyone wants to live there," said polling institute director Patrick Murray in a statement. "Or at least say they live there."
Slightly more New Jerseyans (47 percent) said they feel their region doesn't get its fair share of state resources than those who feel their region does get a fair share (43 percent). Most Central Jerseyans (54 percent) said the hard-to-define region gets its fair share.
North Jerseyans were evenly split on whether they get what's fair from the state, while 64 percent of South Jerseyans said they don't.
"It’s the same old Garden State story," Murray said. "South Jersey feels left out and North Jersey doesn’t seem to mind."
In a final way to define the Garden State's regional identities, the Monmouth pollsters also asked New Jerseyans about their favorite convenience stores. Exactly half of those surveyed said their top choice was Wawa.
The convenience store chain happened to celebrate its 60th anniversary on the day the poll was released.
"It wasn’t that long ago when you wouldn’t even have heard of Wawa north of the Raritan River," said Murray, who also noted that he once worked at a Wawa when he was in college. "It appears to be taking over the entire state, although 7-Eleven is holding its own in New Jersey’s cities."
At 15 percent support, 7-Eleven was slightly ahead of QuickCheck (14 percent) for second place. Ten percent of respondents chose other stores.
Wawa was easily the favorite for residents in South and Central Jersey, while in North Jersey, the chain narrowly edged out 7-Eleven, which was actually more popular in urban areas.
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