A large majority of New Jersey voters
want a chance to vote on whether to legalize gay marriage in the
state.
According to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll of
923 New Jersey adults released Monday, 68 percent of respondents
support placing the question of marriage equality on the fall ballot,
25 percent remain opposed.
Sixty-two percent said they would vote
in favor of legalizing such unions. Thirty percent said they would
vote no, while 8 percent refused to answer.
“While Democratic leaders have called
same-sex marriage a civil right that should not be subject to a vote,
the evidence is that voters would readily align New Jersey with other
states that have already legalized same-sex marriage,” David
Redlawsk, director of political science at Rutgers University,
said in releasing the poll's findings. “It may simply be time to
move that way for those who want the issue resolved.”
Seventy-five percent of those who want
the issue on the ballot would vote in favor, while 20 percent said
they would vote against it.
“Many of those who oppose same-sex
marriage appear to recognize it is likely to pass if on the ballot,”
he added. “Thus they would prefer to keep it off the ballot in the
first place.”
In vetoing a marriage law approved by
lawmakers, Republican Governor Chris Christie said that the people of
New Jersey should decide the issue.