More Than 8 in 10 New Jerseyans Support the State’s School Cellphone Ban
At least 70% support the new policy across every key demographic, with the widest divide by age
With the new school year underway, a majority of New Jersey residents support the state’s ban on non-academic cellphone use in grades K-12 for the entire school day, according to the latest Rutgers-Eagleton Poll.
More than 8 in 10 residents express some level of support for the statewide ban, which went into effect as of the 2026-2027 school year. Fifty-nine percent are strongly supportive and 24% are somewhat supportive, while 4% are strongly opposed, and 9% are somewhat opposed. Four percent are uncertain. Supporters outnumber opponents by more than 6-to-1.
“There is very little in New Jersey politics that more than 8 in 10 residents agree on, and even less that Democrats and Republicans agree on this closely,” said Ashley Koning, an assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. “Support for the state's school cellphone ban is not just broad, it is lopsided, and it holds in every single group we measured.”
Support crosses every line the poll measured. At least 7 in 10 residents in every demographic group surveyed back the requirement, and opposition does not reach a quarter in any of them. Partisanship produces almost no difference: 87% of Republicans, 85% of Democrats, and 79% of independents are supportive, a spread that falls within the poll’s margin of error, indicating no statistically significant difference.
Support is similarly wide across other groups, though it is softest at the lower end of the income scale. Seventy-two percent of residents earning under $50,000 in annual household income are supportive, compared with 84% of those earning $50,000 to under $100,000, 89% of those earning $100,000 to under $150,000, and 86% of those earning $150,000 or more.
Support also differs between those with the least formal education and those with the most – 79% among residents with a high school education or less to 88% among those with graduate work. White residents (85%) are somewhat more supportive than Black residents (74%). Regionally, support ranges from 80% in the suburbs to 90% in exurban communities.
Support rises sharply with age. Residents 65 and older are the most supportive of any group measured, with 94% behind the requirement, including 77% who are strongly supportive. Support falls to 85% among residents 50 to 64, 81% among those 35 to 49, and 72% among those 18 to 34. The generational gap is widest in intensity: 39% of the youngest adults strongly support the ban, 38 points below their oldest counterparts.
“The one stark divide here is generational,” said Koning. “Older residents back this almost unanimously. The youngest adults who are the closest to having lived it, however, are the most hesitant, and even they support it by 3-to-1. This is a policy whose least enthusiastic constituency is still nevertheless in favor.”
Having children in the house makes little difference. Eighty percent of residents who are a parent or guardian of a child under 18 support the requirement, as do 84% of those who are not, a gap that falls within the poll's margin of error. Parents are somewhat less likely to be strongly supportive – 55%, compared with 60% of non-parents – though that difference is also within the margin. The number of children in the household does not matter: Support ranges from 78% to 85% across households with none, one, or two or more children.
Results are from a statewide poll of 1,004 adults contacted through the probability-based Rutgers-Eagleton/SSRS Garden State Panel from Sept. 24 to Sept. 27. The full sample has a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percentage points.
