New Jersey’s push to legalize online gambling is gaining some momentum and even the public appears to be warming up to the idea. A recent poll, conducted by the Farleigh Dickinson University PublicMind, found out that 41 percent of registered voters in the state supported the state’s move to allow online gambling.
Though it’s still a ways away from breaking the 50-percent threshold, it’s a marked improvement from the 31 percent that were in favor of online gambling back in May 2012 and the 26 percent who supported it back in February 2011. On the flip side, 46 percent of registered voters are still opposed to legalizing online gambling, a number that dropped from 58 percent from the May 2012 poll and the 67 percent who were opposed to it back in February 2011.
Krista Jenkins, director of PublicMind Poll at Farleigh Dickinson, told the Star Ledger that the increasing percentage of those supporting the state’s decision to allow online gambling can be attributed to a number of factors. “Voters may be accepting the inevitable or have acquired new information that brought about a change of heart, given the heightened exposure any new legislation brings with it,” Jenkins said.
Another result brought about by the most recent poll found that majority of the voters backed the state’s right to regulate betting as opposed to it being a controlled by the federal government. An impressive 80 percent of the voters – to be fair, some didn’t know a whole lot about the state’s current tussle against the NCAA and the country’s professional sports leagues – sided with the state in its contention that gambling regulation should be under its watch and not of the federal government.
“New Jersey voters clearly see this as an example of federal overreach into state sovereignty,” Jenkins said. “In a rare moment of agreement, voters of both parties agree the federal government should stay out of the matter and let New Jersey have its spoils.”
A rare moment of agreement. That’s something you almost never see when it comes to a state issue. But the most recent results of the PublicMind poll, which involved questioning 702 registered voters by telephone from March 4 through March 10, shows that the state could very well be warming up to the idea of legalized sports gambling within its borders.
It may not be of great consequence in the picture, but it does paint a pretty good indication that state lawmakers are gaining more and more support from their constituents
