A growing shift toward same-sex marriage

Polls are notoriously fickle and unreliable, the results often depending on what a respond thinks his or her questioner wants to hear or how the questions themselves are framed.

But the poll released today by the Rutgers Eagleton Institute of Politics is another hopeful sign that New Jersey will do something too many states in the country have been unwilling to do: Give gays and lesbians full access to the rights the rest of us enjoy. According to the poll:

Supporters of gay marriage may find New Jersey more hospitable than many other states, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released today. By a 46 percent to 42 percent margin, adults in New Jerseyans favor legalizing same-sex nuptials, with 12 percent unsure.

The survey also shows that if the state Legislature passes a bill legalizing gay marriage, 52 percent would accept the decision, while 40 percent would support a constitutional amendment banning the practice.

“Residents of New Jersey are more supportive of gay marriage than opposed to it, and more importantly a majority would accept a legislative decision legalizing same-sex marriages,” said David Redlawsk, director of the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll and professor of political science at Rutgers University. “While this tests opinion outside the intensity of a campaign to ban gay marriage as occurred in California, there is more of a ‘live and let live’ attitude in New Jersey than in many other states that have dealt with this issue.”

The key number, of course, is not the 46-42 support figure — that’s barely more than the margin of error and pegs support at less than 50 percent. Rather, the key is the 52 percent — a real majority — who say they would accept the state Legislature’s decision, were it to legalize same-sex marriage.

There is no way of knowing what will happen when same-sex marriage is legalized — and make no mistake, it will be legalized, most likely sometime next month — but I think it’s more likely we’ll follow the model of Massachusetts and not California.

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet