August 20, 2007

Abstract: (Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Adults in the New Jersey are split over allowing gay and lesbian partners to enter wedlock, according to a poll by Zogby International for Garden State Equality. 48 per cent of respondents agree with giving same-sex couples the same freedom to marry as heterosexual couples, while 45 per cent disagree.

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Adults in the New Jersey are split over allowing gay and lesbian partners to enter wedlock, according to a poll by Zogby International for Garden State Equality. 48 per cent of respondents agree with giving same-sex couples the same freedom to marry as heterosexual couples, while 45 per cent disagree.

In addition, 48 per cent of respondents would let gay couples get married, 30 per cent would retain the current structure that allows New Jersey's same-sex partners to enter civil unions, and 20 per cent would prefer to grant no legal recognition to homosexual partnerships.

In 2004, marriage certificates were issued to same-sex couples by local governments in the states of California, Oregon, New Mexico and New York. In May 2004, the state of Massachusetts allowed gay and lesbian partners to apply for marriage licenses, the first state-sanctioned homosexual weddings in the United States.

Civil union and domestic partnership laws in Vermont, Connecticut, California and New Jersey grant same-sex couples all state-level rights and obligations of marriage—in areas such as inheritance, income tax, insurance and hospital visitation. Other forms of domestic partnership exist in the District of Columbia, Hawaii and Maine. There are more than 1,000 federal-level rights of marriage that cannot be granted by states.

On Aug. 17, actor and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson, who is expected to join the race for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2008, called for a federal constitutional amendment to settle the issue, saying, "I don't think that one state ought to be able to pass a law requiring gay marriage or allowing gay marriage and have another state be required to follow along."

In June 2006, a proposal to enact a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage failed in the Senate after a 49-48 vote. In July 2006, a House of Representatives effort to constitutionally prohibit any form of marriage other than one "between a man and a woman" fell 46 votes short of the 289 required to pass.

Same-sex marriage is currently legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada and South Africa, and at least 18 countries offer some form of legal recognition to same-sex unions.

Polling Data

New Jersey allows gay couples to enter into civil unions but not marry. Do you agree or disagree that New Jersey should give gay couples the same freedom to marry as heterosexual couples?

Agree	48%
Disagree	45%
Not sure	7%

Which of the following comes closest to your own point of view?

If gay couples want to marry, let them. It will ensure equality and will not affect marriages of heterosexual couples anyway.	48%
Allow gay couples to enter into civil unions, but not marriage. Allowing gay couples to marry will hurt the institution of marriage.	30%
Do not allow gay couples to marry or enter into civil unions.	20%
Not sure	2%

Source: Zogby International / Garden State Equality
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 803 New Jersey voters, conducted from Aug. 8 to Aug. 10, 2007. Margin of error is 3.5 per cent.