Although New Jersey is typically a reliably blue state politically, legislature leaders have been cautiously moderate on many progressive issues, said Associate Rutgers University Professor Julia Sass Rubin, director of the Policy Program at the Edward J Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.
“There are multiple reasons why New Jersey state policy is not as progressive as the state’s demographics would support,” said Sass Rubin, noting that this has stalled legislation “to increase police accountability, strengthen reproductive rights, and provide assistance for undocumented immigrants.”