WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J., Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A survey of a select group of New Jersey residents whose homes were damaged in Superstorm Sandy found 64 percent are unhappy with the state's response.
The Monmouth University Poll has been following a group of 864 people whose primary homes sustained major damage and who applied for aid from the New Jersey Stronger program. The results released Monday are the third installment in the ongoing study.
Only 36 percent of those surveyed were satisfied with the state's recovery program, while 64 percent said they were dissatisfied. About 74 percent said people like them appeared to have been overlooked in the recovery effort.
New Jersey's response to Sandy became a point of controversy after Gov. Chris Christie's "Bridgegate" scandal. Critics accused Christie of selecting an ad campaign aimed at potential tourists, "Stronger Than the Storm," that was more designed to help his 2013 campaign for a second term than to help the state, and the mayor of Hoboken charging that the governor threatened to withhold aid unless she pushed for a development project he favored.
Only 15 percent of respondents said the state has been "very helpful" post-Sandy, while 27 percent described it as completely unhelpful.
"The current recovery efforts seem to currently be in a black hole of information; this is distressing, I am still waiting to hear when and if grant money will be available to elevate my home," a homeowner from Toms River, which fronts on Barnegat Bay, told the university.
Many communities on the Jersey Shore experienced severe damage from the storm. But Sandy also hit many urban communities hard with much of Hoboken, a densely populated city on the Hudson River, reporting severe flooding.
The poll said the respondents were not selected randomly so the results cannot be projected to all New Jersey residents affected by Sandy.
