Six months after Sandy things have returned to normal for most people along the Jersey Shore.
A new poll shows two-thirds of New Jerseyans who live in areas that were hard-hit by Superstorm Sandy say life has returned to normal, while roughly 1 in 7 say they are far from recovery six months after the mega-storm hit.
The Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press poll out Monday finds that the number of residents in hard-hit communities who continue to struggle barely changed since December. And 15 percent say they have barely recovered.
“Sandy recovery seems to be moving along for most New Jerseyans, but some of the hardest hit residents are making little to no progress and becoming more pessimistic,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “It’s unclear what state aid will be made available to those homeowners if the public’s reticence to assist affected residents in high-risk areas is taken into account.”
The poll of 806 New Jersey adults was conducted by telephone from April 11-14 and has an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says President Barack Obama "has kept every promise he's made" about helping the state recover from Superstorm Sandy.
Speaking Monday on MSNBC on the 6-month anniversary of the deadly storm, the Republican says presidential politics was the last thing on his mind as he toured storm-devastated areas with the president last fall.
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Christie's warm embrace of Obama angered some Republicans, who said it helped tip a close election to the Democrat and away from Mitt Romney, who Christie endorsed.
Christie says he disagrees with Obama about 95 percent of things. But the governor says he was merely doing his job, trying to get help for his state.
Federal approval is expected Monday for New Jersey's plan to spend $1.8 billion in federal grants to rebuild.
For those people still recovering Sandy there is still time to apply for help from FEMA. May 1 is the deadline.
