Sixty Percent Support Gay Marriage In New Jersey
- By
- On Top Magazine Staff
- | July 10, 2013
A large majority of New Jersey voters say they support the legalization of gay marriage.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll of 1,068 New Jersey voters conducted from July 2 to 7, 60 percent of respondents support gay marriage, while 31 percent remain opposed.
While a majority of Democrats (69%) and independents (64%) support marriage equality, only 39 percent of Republicans do. Forty-nine percent of Republicans remain opposed.
Pollsters also found a 2-1 job approval rating for Republican Governor Chris Christie, despite his opposition to gay nuptials.
In vetoing a marriage equality bill approved by lawmakers last year, Christie called for a referendum on the issue, saying that on an issue this important the people should be consulted.
“The governor's job approval is stratospheric and even his veto of same-sex marriage, an issue which continues to draw 2-1 support, hasn't hurt him,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Last week, plaintiffs suing the state for the right to marry asked a judge to quickly end the state's prohibition on same-sex marriage, saying that a recent Supreme Court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) creates an urgent need to act.
(Related: New Jersey's Chris Christie calls DOMA ruling “wrong.”)