New Jerseyans Favor Gay Marriage

Twice as many New Jerseyans "would be fine" with allowing gay couples to marry as would be upset if lawmakers enacted a marriage equality law, according to a new poll.

The Zogby survey of 803 New Jersey voters was commissioned by the gay rights group Garden State Equality to mark the six-month anniversary of New Jersey's civil unions law on Sunday.

Gay couples were granted the same legal rights, if not the title, as married couples on Feb. 19 when New Jersey became the third state to offer civil unions. Gay rights activists have continued to press for full marriage equality, saying civil unions do not satisfy a state Supreme

Court ruling that entitles gay couples to the same benefits as married couples.

The poll, released Wednesday, showed 63 percent of voters surveyed said they would not be upset if the Legislature upgraded civil unions to marriage equality, compared with 31 percent who would be upset.

And some 72 percent said lawmakers would not jeopardize their re-election bids by enacting marriage equality, compared with 21 percent who felt such a vote could effect an incumbent's chances of remaining in the Legislature.

Regardless of their personal beliefs, those polled believe New Jersey will allow gay couples to marry within a couple of years, by a margin of 61 percent to 29 percent.

"Regardless of whether any public official supports marriage equality or wants to maintain the state's failed civil unions law, no official in New Jersey can credibly say that marriage for gay couples is a divisive issue in the state," said Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality.

"Even voters who oppose marriage equality are ready to accept an upgrade of the state's civil unions law to real marriage equality," he said.

The poll was conducted from Aug. 8-10 and has a sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percent. Though Garden State Equality commissioned the poll, Zogby collected the data independently.