NEW JERSEY — Nearly two-thirds of New Jersey voters want to keep the state’s full-service gasoline law, according to a new Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll, showing little change in public opinion over the past 14 years.
New Jersey remains the only state in the nation that requires gas station attendants to pump fuel for customers.
The poll found that 64% of registered voters favor keeping the current full-service system, while 24% support allowing self-service gas stations. When the same question was asked in 2012, 63% supported full-service and 23% favored self-service.
“At a time when everything seems unstable, it’s good to know that there are some things that just don’t change,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of government and politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University and executive director of the FDU Poll. “New Jersey voters have never wanted to pump their own gas, and they still don’t want to pump their own gas.”
Support for full-service stations was stronger among women than men, with 74% of women favoring the current system compared with 56% of men. Even so, a majority of men said they prefer full-service.
“In the past, full-service gas has been seen as a safety measure for women,” said Cassino. “But the gap between men and women could also just be men saying that they like doing things with their cars.”
The survey also found support for full-service gasoline was slightly higher among younger voters, with 68% of voters age 30 and younger favoring the current system, compared with 61% of senior voters.
Democrats were more likely than Republicans to support retaining full-service gas stations, although the poll said those differences appeared to be driven largely by age and gender rather than political affiliation.
The poll surveyed 1,211 registered New Jersey voters from June 23-30 using text-to-web surveys conducted in English. According to FDU, the poll has a sampling margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, or plus or minus 4.2 percentage points when accounting for survey weighting.
