Candidate Videos, Speeches, Interviews 2

Submitted by Ryan Robinson

4 of 6 Candidates Meet & Greet at The Reserve

As a young resident of Oakland, and being one of a slim number my age that finds politics interesting, my decision to start polling residents came very easily to me. I started to take a heavy interest in politics in ‘08 with the presidential election, and ‘09 with the New Jersey governor race. Now this 2010 election has an interesting feel about it as well with the highly anticipated mid-terms, and the many local positions up for grabs as well.

I love watching the news and I always found the polls that is given to the American people to be fascinating and intriguing. However, when looking at big polling firms like Gallup, Rasmussen, and The Word Doctors, they all had something in common: the big name firms only go as local as the state elections. If one digs deeper though, you can see the House of Representative races, and county races like for Sheriff and County Executive. However, on a more local level, like for a town, there is no polling data at all. This bugged me as I never knew who might win the mayor or council election until the next morning when results were posted. It occurred to me someone should take it upon themself to do some polling to fill in those gaps, and to get the job done, I did it myself.

I started my first poll in late June, early July by standing about 4-5 days total (for about 3-4 hours each) outside the Oakland post office. It was a lot of work though and it was hard to get my results out. So, to make life and sharing results easier, I created my own website http://www.oaklandnjpolls.tk/, and I post my results there.

Below are some videos from Candidate’s Night at the Ramapo River Reserve. I asked the candidates 3 questions each (and yes, it isn’t just you, I speak very quickly, so i am working on toning that down a bit) and I think they all appreciated my effort and interest in matters like this.

Latest Poll

1. What is your age?
-18-25 –> 1
-26-34 –> 2
-35-44 –> 4
-45-59 –> 14
-60+ –> 11

2. Do you approve or disapprove of President Obama in general?
-Approve –> 8
-Disapprove –> 18
Neither Approve or Disapprove: 6

3. As of now, who are you planning to vote for this November for the council election?
-Tim Jensen –> 6
-Karen Marcalus –> 9
-Pat Tirri –> 2
-Sandra Coira –> 0
-Donald Burns –> 3
-Charlie McCormick –> 6

4. Should Oakland share a police force with another municipality?
-YES–> 14
-No –> 9
-Don’t Know–> 9

5. What is your gender?
-Male –> 14
-Female –> 18

6. If the town were to post monthly municipal expenditures online, would you occasionally go on the Internet to review how your tax money is being spent?
-YES –> 22
-No –> 3
-Maybe –> 7

7. Would you be willing to sacrifice cuts in municipal services in Oakland in order to reduce the municipal portion of your taxes?
-YES –> 17
-NO –> 15

8.In your opinion, how is Chris Christie doing as governor?
-Very Good –> 11
-Fair –> 14
-Bad –> 2
-Very Poor –> 5

9. Should the Borough rezone the property on McCoy Road,near the High School, to residential?
-YES –> 5
-NO –> 9
-Don’t know about it/Need More Info –> 18