- Hey everyone, Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program talking about a whole range of issues involving public policy and polling of public policy and where we are with our elections should we trust?

A lot going on.

We're joined by Alyssa Maurice, who's assistant director of the Hughes Center for Public Policy at our higher-ed partner at Stockton University.

Alyssa, good to see you.

- You too, thank you for having me.

- Alyssa, I know there are a couple of polls that you and your colleagues at the Center have worked on.

One having to do with social media, young people in social media and their mental health.

The other one involving data centers, AI data centers.

But I want to kick off with this.

We're taping on the 22nd of July.

It'll be seen later.

All right, this is "New York Post".

Don't worry, I have "The New York Times" here somewhere as well, right?

It's in both papers, it's everywhere.

Whole discussion about, and trust me, there's a question here, whole discussion, "Hey," President Trump, "The election was rigged.

2020 was stolen.

We need to question our elections.

People are voting or shouldn't be voting."

And I was all about to do a segment talking about how our elections are run really well and there's no reason to be concerned.

As we do the program today, Governor Sherrill admitted yesterday that the state of New Jersey through the Motor Vehicles folks, registered at least 6,600 non-citizens to vote, because of a software glitch in at least 400 of those cast-a-ballot.

Now, the president and many who question our elections, saying, "You see?

We told you."

Put this in context for us please, Alyssa.

- Yeah, you're absolutely right that it is a really unfortunate revelation from Governor Sherrill out of New Jersey.

Any instance- - Yes, yes, the governor said it happened in the previous administration under Governor Murphy.

But I'm sorry, go ahead, Alyssa.

- Any instance of voter fraud, or error in our voter rules is extremely serious.

It should be investigated as the governor said, so that these mistakes never happen again.

So, I don't want to be dismissive of that at all.

It's extremely concerning to hear that 400 non-citizens did vote within this period of a year where the software error was in effect.

But I do think it's important for elected officials to be very precise in how they talk about this issue, focus on exactly what happened and the impact of it.

The potential damage to our democracy of sensationalized rhetoric around this, or making unsubstantiated claims is really twofold.

For one, it can impact voter participation.

As you pointed out, President Trump for many years now has sown doubt about the security of our elections.

And many voters out there may be wondering, "Why would I bother if the whole system is rigged?"

So, elevating unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud can really undermine voter confidence.

So, that's one concern, discouraging democratic participation.

Another issue is that sensationalized claims can be used as pretense for more federal interference in our elections.

Major- - Hold on a second.

When you say for more federal interference, the president says passed this voting act.

What's it called?

The SAVE America Act?

I'm not sure what it's called this week.

But all we're doing is making sure the people who vote, are the people who are supposed to be voting.

The federal government needs to be more involved.

And if you don't, New Jersey and other states do that, we're going to start pulling.

If you don't go along with what we want you to do, we're going to pull funding.

But last time I checked, the law says that the states administer elections, not the feds.

Why is the fed-state issue regarding elections so important, Alyssa?

- You're exactly right that President Trump has made it clear he wants to nationalize elections.

He's made a stance on that very clear.

And agencies like the Justice Department, the FBI, Homeland Security have taken steps to try to assert more federal control over state-run elections.

It's important for people to know, the Constitution gives authority over elections to the states, not the federal government.

So, Americans vote in as many as 10,000 different election jurisdictions.

Elections in this country are entirely decentralized, which may make things more complicated, but this system adds security.

Because of this decentralized system, it would be very hard, nearly impossible to systematically rig an election or alter outcomes.

Because so many jurisdictions are involved.

So, I think what would really help ease doubts among the American people would be for them to learn more about how votes are cast and counted at the local level, learn about all the people involved in that process on both sides of the aisle.

I really think that's the antidote to a lot of misinformation going around about this.

Democracy needs informed citizens.

- So how about this one?

Stockton Poll found that 91% of New Jersey voters believe that social media, is negatively impacting our children's mental health.

A, how accurate do you believe it is?

B, why is it so significant?

- Yeah, so, just to talk a little bit about our methods just to instill that confidence in your viewers, we use probability-based sampling.

So, that random selection helps ensure that we have a representative sample that is demographically aligned with our target population, which is all residents or registered voters depending on the poll.

So, unlike those election polls that are candidate preference polls trying to gauge the electorate for an upcoming election, we don't have to make educated guesses about who's going to show up to the polls.

We are trying to model the all registered voters, or all residents in New Jersey.

So, we have great benchmarks to know what that population looks like.

So, it's very different from those pre-election polls, which are trying to guess the electorate.

- Which and are often wrong by the way.

But that being said, this poll, the results, 91%, 91% of New Jersey voters believe social media, is negatively impacting children's mental health.

Why do you believe, Alyssa, those poll results, or how should they impact public policy in your view?

- Yeah, so, we knew that this was a big focus for Governor Sherrill, both as a candidate on the campaign trail and since she's taken office.

There has also been a slate of bills recently proposed in the state legislature to regulate online platforms in a number of ways.

And Sherrill has signaled support for these safeguards.

So, we thought it was important and timely to understand where New Jerseyans stand on this and if they think that is an appropriate role for the government.

And we found really strong support for these legislative guardrails.

75% said stronger regulations are needed, even if they limit some online freedoms.

Only 17% said online freedom should be prioritized, even if that means fewer restrictions.

We found broad support for proposals that are being considered in New Jersey.

93% favor requiring social media companies to meet stronger data privacy standards for minors.

88% support requiring social media companies to display warning labels on content that could negatively affect children's mental health.

And 79% were in support of increased funding for school-based mental health services in New Jersey.

So, really broad support across parties and across all demographics really.

And I think it's driven by exactly that finding that you started this segment with that 91% think these social media platforms, are playing a major role in the mental health challenges that we see today.

- P.S., to find out more about that poll and other polls taken over at the university, at the Hughes Center for Public Policy, the website's coming up right now.

How about this one?

A Stockton poll found that 56% of voters would support banning data centers in their community.

This has to do with artificial intelligence and the energy that is required to manage what's needed to make AI work, I guess.

These data centers, 56%, are they saying they're against illicit data centers, or are they saying, "I'm just against it if it's near me?"

- Well, yeah, that is a great question.

Because we often see that in public opinion, right?

They might be supportive of something.

But when those projects begin to materialize in their own communities, we see public opinion shift.

We saw that with wind turbine.

- Often known as NIMBY, Not In My Backyard, so- - Right.

- "I don't care if there's a toxic waste site and just not here."

Is this the same thing in your view?

- Well, we would need to do some more polling, I think some more follow-ups to try to tease that out a bit.

But I will say we did see broad concern about the environmental impacts of data centers and about the potential impact on utility costs.

So, we saw vast majorities were worried about those issues, even before the question on whether they would support data centers in their own communities.

So, we have to remember this is coming at a time when many are already struggling with rising utility bills.

It's already a very hot topic in the state.

So, many are looking at these data centers and understanding the surge in demands that they may lead to and thinking, "I don't want to take that risk."

I will also mention the findings on AI in general.

Because I think growing anti-AI sentiment is also a factor that's driving this backlash against data centers.

New Jersey voters are very wary of the growing reliance on AI.

And they're really bracing for labor market disruptions.

So, 74% think AI will ultimately eliminate more jobs than it will create.

And we see this anti-AI sentiment at the national level too.

Polling supports that at the national level.

So, I think that's also in the mix here of what is driving this pushback against data center development here in the state.

- Listen, before we let you go, why polling?

Why public policy for you?

-I think it’s so important, it's such an important piece of these policy discussions.

I really think they should have a voice in this.

And in order for our elected officials to act on behalf of the people, they need to know what they think.

So, I really do, I just believe there's a lot of value in it.

- Alyssa, it's the first time you have joined us.

It will not be the last.

Your voice is important, compelling information and really good stuff.

Alyssa Maurice, who is the assistant director at the Hughes Center for Public Policy at Stockton University, one of our higher-ed partners.

Alyssa, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Great to be with you, thank you.

- You guys stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] Think Tank with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by New Jersey Sharing Network.

The New Jersey Education Association.

PSE&G.

Atlantic Health System.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The Fund for New Jersey.

EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

And by Adler Aphasia Center.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

And by The Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey.

- To watch more Think Tank with Steve Adubato, find us online and follow us on social media.

- At the Turrell Fund, we know that all New Jersey families deserve access to affordable, high quality childcare.

Early childhood education supports healthy brain development and provides essential support to power the economy, enabling parents to work, businesses to operate, and communities to thrive.

The Turrell Fund is proud to be part of Start Strong NJ, a statewide initiative to put affordable, high quality childcare within reach of all New Jersey families.

Learn more at TurrellFund.org and StartStrongNJ.org.