New Poll: NJ Voters Support Judge's Gay Marriage Ruling

A new poll found that the majority of New Jersey voters support a recent decision made by a Superior Court judge to legalize same-sex marriage in the state, NJ.com reports.

According to the data by Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll, 62 percent of the 702 voters surveyed, backed Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson's ruling to legalize marriage equality. Jacobson said she based her Sept. 27 decision on the Supreme Court's strike down on part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Last month, Jacobson said same-sex couples can legally tie the knot on Oct. 21 but, unsurprisingly, Republican Gov. Chris Christie s filing an appeall. The poll, however, found that 62 percent of voters want Christie to drop the appeal.

"The timing of the decision heightens the importance of the issue at a time when the state enters the final days of the Senate, gubernatorial, and legislative elections," Krista Jenkins, the polling director of PublicMind said. "Candidates from top of the ticket to down ballot races will undoubtedly be asked to weigh in on gay marriage for which public opinion is decisive."

Christie, who vetoed a gay marriage bill last year, has insisted he wants the same-sex marriage issue to be decided by a ballot vote.

A September poll found that New Jersey resident were split on the way Christie has handled marriage equality. Thirty percent said the politician was doing an above-average job when it comes to gay marriage, while 31 percent said he was doing a below-average job.

"It's a middling grade," Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray said. "It's an average grade, but the key thing there I think is that it's an elective subject as far as most voters are concerned. It's not part of his core curriculum when they judge how he's doing his job."