Poll: Nearly 80% of residents oppose government seizures of farmland for housing
New Jersey voters from across aisles agree on at least one thing… and pollsters stay it’s not political. Dr. Dan Cassino is the executive director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll.
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A new poll shows nearly 80% of New Jerseyans oppose government seizures of farmland for affordable housing.
New Jersey voters from across aisles agree on at least one thing… and pollsters stay it’s not political. Dr. Dan Cassino is the executive director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll.
"We have to really look to find nonpartisan issues in New Jersey. Partisanship affects everything we do. All of our politics are about Republicans vs. Democrats. This one issue we don’t see a significant gap," Cassino said.
In a survey done by the Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll, along with the New Jersey Farm Bureau, they found that 64% of New Jerseyans, from across the political spectrum, say agriculture is “very important” and an even bigger percentage opposing eminent domain seizures.
"Seventy-nine percent of voters in New Jersey say that municipalities should not be allowed to take farmland to build affordable housing and that’s pretty much the same among Democrats and among Republicans," Cassino said.
Earlier this year Cranbury Township moved to acquire a 175-year-old working farm through eminent domain. The farm owners and its supporters all agree that the property’s location isn’t ideal for housing, but, as municipalities try to reach their affordable housing obligations, Cassino says, they’re increasingly trying to turn to places out of the way, putting farms in the line of sight.
"That does lead to these sorts of problems where we have a tradeoff between agriculture of the past New Jersey and accessible transit walkable towns which is perhaps the future," Cassino said.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture Census, the number of farms in the state has grown, but the amount of land in farms has declined.
"We’re not a farm state anymore. We were traditionally the Garden State, the breadbasket or New York and Philadelphia, the emotional connection of farms is still there," Cassino said.
The FDU poll did show some differences between voters based on region and age. There were more voters in the northwestern part of the state who said that farming is “very important”, a smaller number for those in urban areas. Older voters are also more likely to say that farming is “very important” compared to younger voters.
