Today’s Monmouth University Poll finds the job approval rating of U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) in persistent negative territory.

One of the country’s least popular senators, Menendez currently stands at 36% approve and 43% disapprove among all New Jerseyans, and 37% approve and 45% disapprove among registered voters.

The poll notes that this is not significantly different from the 40% approve to 45% disapprove voter rating Menendez received in February.  However, the 2019 trend is a marked change from the senator’s ratings in Monmouth polls taken over the prior ten years, all of which were either positive or evenly divided. For example, Menendez received a split 37% approve and 38% disapprove voter rating in April 2018, and a positive 41% approve and 35% disapprove rating in July 2017.

Monmouth University conducted the poll by telephone from September 12 to 16, 2019 with 713 New Jersey adults, which has a +/- 3.7 percentage point sampling margin of error.  Some results in this release are based on 325 registered voters who identify as Democrats or lean toward the Democratic Party and have a margin of error of +/- 5.4 percentage points.  The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute in West Long Branch.

Reelected by double digits in 2018, the senator continues to conduct routine press conferences in his home state, criticizing President Donald J. Trump. A member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Menendez last week noted that if the president thinks military action is needed to ease tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, he should consult with Congress.

There’s also the matter of Saudi Arabia.

While the country is officially an ally of the United States, Menendez said in effect that we have better allies. He noted the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi embassy and the kingdom’s traditional opposition to women’s rights.

Summing up the president’s remarks, Menendez said they displayed a “little bit of a Rambo attitude that is very risky.”