NEW JERSEY 14 Electoral Votes 
link to clickable map
New Jersey goes from 15 electoral votes to 14 as a result of reapportionment following the 2010 Census
Population 
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, NJ Division of Elections)
Total Resident Population, July 1, 2012 est.
 8,864,590
Total Enrollment, Oct. 24, 2012
 5,497,322 >
Dem. 1,787,480 (28.50%)   Rep. 1,084,757 (17.29%)   Unaffil. 2,621,197 (41.79%)  Grn. 1,203   Lib. 1,899   Ref. 71  Const. 164   Nat. 37   Conserv. 514
New Jersey has: 21 counties.
Largest counties (nine more than 500,000): Bergen, Middlesex, Essex, Hudson, Monmouth. >
Largest cities: Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Elizabeth. >

Government
Governor: Chris Christie (R) elected Nov. 2009. 
State Legislature: New Jersey Legislature   House: 80 seats  Senate: 40 seats
Local: Counties and Municipalities   NACO Counties
U.S. House: 6D, 6R, 1v - 1. R.Andrews (D) | 2. F.LoBiondo (R) | 3. J.Runyan (R) | 4. C.Smith (R) | 5. S.Garrett (R) | 6. F.Pallone, Jr. (D) | 7. L.Lance (R) | 8. B.Pascrell, Jr (D) | 9. S.Rothman (D) | 10. vacant | 11. R.Frelinghuysen (R) | 12. R.Holt (D) | 13. A.Sires (D).
U.S. Senate: Frank Lautenberg (D) re-elected in 2008, Bob Menendez (D) re-elected in 2012.
2012
 U.S. Senate: Sen. Bob Menendez (D) defeated state Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R), by more than half a million votes (1,987,680 to 1,329,534); a total of 11 candidates were on the ballot including Kenneth Kaplan (L) and Ken Wolski (G).
U.S. House: In the 10th CD, Rep. Donald Payne Sr. died in March; a special primary election was held on June 5, and the general election for the remainder was held on Nov. 6.  Newark City Council President Donald Payne Jr. (D) won the partial term and the full term.  New Jersey lost one seat due to re-apportionment.  In the new 9th CD there was a member on member primary; Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D) defeated Rep. Steve Rothman (D).  The balance went from 7D, 6R to 6D, 6R.
Ballot Measures: Voters approved Question 1, the "Building Our Future Bond Act."  The other measure was a narrow technical question.

 State of New Jersey
Division of Elections

Green Party of NJ
NJ Democratic State Comm.
NJ Libertarian Party
NJ Republican State Comm.
Constitution Party of NJ

Star Ledger/Times, pol.
Newspapers
TV, Radio

PolitickerNJ.com

Politics1-NJ
Ballotpedia-NJ


The Garden State 
General Election -- Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Voting Eligible Population*: 5,882,974.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 61.9%.

Voter Registration Deadline: October 16, 2012 (21 days before election).
Official Results >
 
+Obama/Biden (Dem.)
 2,122,786
(58.34)
Romney/Ryan (Rep.)
 1,478,088
 (40.62)
Johnson/Gray (Lib.) 21,035
 (0.58)
Stein/Honkala (Grn.)
 9,886
 (0.27)
Goode/Clymer (Const.)
 2,063
 (0.06)
Anderson/Rodriguez (Jus.) 1,723
 (0.05)
Boss/Pasternak (NSA)
 1,024
 (0.03)
Harris/DeLuca (SWP)
 709
 (0.02)
Miller/Bertram (AmThird)
 664
 (0.02)
Lindsay/Osorio (PS&L)
 521
 (0.01)
Total........3,638,499

PDF

Overview: Gov. Chris Christie 's praise of President Obama's handling of Hurricane Sandy  and tarmac appearance with Obama rubbed many Republicans the wrong way.  Hurricane Sandy posed challenges to election officials.  As with many non-battleground states, turnout was down from 2008 (229,738 fewer votes cast in the presidential race, a decrease of 5.9%).  The Obama/Biden ticket won with a plurality of 644,698 votes (17.72 percentage points).  Obama carried 12 counties to eight for Romney (Cape May, Hunterdon, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Somerset, Sussex, and Warren) and the vote in Salem County was tied.
General Election Details
 Obama  |  (Romney)
BALLOT [PDF]

Presidential Preference Primary -- Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Democrats


Barack Obama 283,673 votes.
 Republicans
50 Delegates: 3 RNC; 11 at-large; 36 by CD (3 x 12).
2.19% of the 2,286 Delegates.

Official Results 
Mitt Romney
 188,121
81.26%
Ron Paul
 24,071
10.40%
Rick Santorum
 12,115
5.23%
Newt Gingrich
 7,212
3.12%
Total
231,519

New Jersey was among the many states which held its 2008 presidential primary in February.  On Sept. 26, 2011 Acting Governor Kim Guadagno signed legislation to return New Jersey to a single June primary.
General Election -- Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Voting Eligible Population*: 5,844,477.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 66.2%.


Total ballots cast 3,910,220 (a record)
Total ballots rejected: 32,168


Registration: Dem. 1,782,556 (33.31%)   Rep. 1,055,403 (19.72%)   Unaffil. 2,511,367 (46.93%)  Other Parties 2,189 (0.04%)...   Total: 5,351,669.
Official Results >

+Obama/Biden (Dem.)
 		2,215,422
 (57.27)
McCain/Palin (Rep.) 1,613,207
 (41.70)
Nader/Gonzalez (Ind.)
 		21,298
(0.55)
Barr/Root (Lib.)
 		8,441
 (0.22)
Baldwin/Castle (Const.)
 		3,956
(0.10)
McKinney/Clemente (Grn.)
 3,636
 (0.09)
Moore/Alexander (SPUSA)
 699
 (0.02)
Boss/Psoras (VH)
 639
 (0.02)
Calero/Kennedy (SWP)
 523
 (0.01)
La Riva/Puryear (S&L)
 416
 (0.01)
Total........3,868,237


2008 Overview
New Jersey received limited attention (visits).  The Obama/Biden ticket won with a plurality of 602,215 votes (15.57 percentage points).  Obama carried 14 counties to 7 for McCain (Cape May, Hunterdon, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Sussex, and Warren).
Obama/Allies  |  McCain/Allies  |  Nader
General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Voting Eligible Population*: 5,663,201.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 63.8%.


Total ballots cast: 3,638,153
Total ballots rejected: 24,017

Registration:  Dem. 1,163,224 (23.24%)   Rep. 884,801 (17.67%)   Unaffil. 2,938,562 (58.70%)  Ind. 18,077 (0.36%)  Others 1,295 (0.03%)...  Total: 5,005,959.
Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)
1,911,430
(52.92)
Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
1,670,003
(46.24)
Nader/LaMarche (Ind.) 19,418 (0.54)
Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.) 4,514
(0.12)
Peroutka/Baldwin (Const.)
2,750
(0.08)
Cobb/LaMarche (Grn.)
1,807
(0.05)
Van Auken/Lawrence (SEP)
575
(0.02)
Brown/Herbert (SPUSA)
664
(0.02)
Calero/Hawkins (SWP)
530
(0.01)
Total........3,611,691
 
2004 Overview
Despite the Democratic ticket's margin of 15.84 percentage points in 2000 and 17.86 percentage points in 1996, Republicans made an effort in New Jersey (transcript), and they did significantly cut the Democratic plurality to 241,427 votes (6.68 percentage points).
General Election Details
Kerry/Allies  |  Bush-Cheney '04

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Voting Eligible Population*: 5,601,788.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 56.9%


Total ballots cast: 3,219,650 
Total ballots rejected: 9,037

Registration:  Dem. 1,179,577 (25%)   Rep. 876,386 (18%)   Unaffil. 2,641,861 (56%)   Ind. 12,944 (1%)...  Total 4,710,768.
+Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)
1,788,850
(56.13)
Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
1,284,173
(40.29)
Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)
94,554
(2.97)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
6,312
(0.20)
Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)
6,989
(0.22)
Hagelin/Ticiati (Ind.)
2,215
(0.07)
McReynolds/Hollis (SPUSA)
1,880
(0.06)
Phillips/Frazier (Const.)
1,409
(0.04)
Harris/Trowe (SWP)
844
(0.03)
Total........3,187,226


2000 Overview
The Gore-Lieberman ticket won New Jersey with a plurality of 504,677 votes (15.84 percentage points), carrying 14 counties to 7 for Bush-Cheney (5 of which were in the northwest corner). Some Garden State Republicans believe a weak Bush state organization contributed to the poor showing and to down-ticket defeats.  In the U.S. Senate race, Jon Corzine (D) outspent Bob Franks (R) by $54.0 million to $3.8 million and won by 50.1% to 47.1% (1,511,237 to 1,420,267).  There were a couple of close House races: in the 12th Rep. Rush Holt (D) defeated former Rep. Dick Zimmer (R) by 651 votes (146,162 to 145,511); in the 7th Mike Ferguson (R) defeated Maryanne Connelly (D) by about 15,000 votes. 
General Election Actitivities

1992 and 1996 General Elections
Archive Pages: 2008 | 2004 | 2000 1992
Clinton (Dem.).......1,436,206 (42.95)
Bush (Rep.)...........1,356,865 (40.58)
Perot (Ind.)...............521,829
 (15.61)
Others (10).................28,694
(0.86)
Total........3,343,594

1996
Clinton (Dem.).......1,652,329 (53.72)
Dole (Rep.)...........1,103,078 (35.86)
Perot (Ref.)..............262,134
(8.52)
Nader (Grn.)..............32,465
(1.06)
Others (6)..................25,801
(0.84)
Total........3,075,807