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For immediate release Monday, February 3, 2014        6 pp.

Contacts:

Krista Jenkins  908.328.8967 (cell) or 973.443.8390 (office) -- kjenkins@fdu.edu

Don Hoover 609.432.7297 or dhoover@fdu.edu

Interest in online gambling is blunted
while support for marijuana lights up

The most recent statewide survey of registered voters from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds that forty-one percent now support the legalization of small quantities of marijuana for recreational use while 32 percent approve of legalized online gambling, which has been in effect in New Jersey for the past few months.

The percentage of registered voters who support online gaming has dropped, even though the practice was recently legalized and increasing numbers of players are registering with New Jersey casinos. A third (32%) are currently in favor, with 57 percent opposed. The university’s survey research group has asked this question repeatedly over the years, and the current findings represent a decline in favor from those in March 2013. At that time, 41 percent favored online gambling and 46 percent said they were opposed.

“The public’s attitude was, for several years, warming up to online gambling,” said Krista Jenkins, director of PublicMind and professor of political science. “But there has been a clear change in direction, now that the practice has actually been legalized. Part of the public has always shown deep reluctance to make gambling so accessible in their own homes. Now that it is in fact legal, they may be more concerned than ever.”

Those who say they visited a casino in the last 12 months are significantly more apt to support online gambling. Around four-in-ten of these individuals support the legalization, whereas barely a quarter (28%) of those without a recent casino visit say the same. And, women remain more opposed than men. Two thirds of women (67%) reject online gambling’s legalization, compared with around half of men (47%).

“Internet gambling firms operating in New Jersey have been marketing heavily through numerous media outlets to gain recognition in the online gambling space. These numbers may reflect a bit of intolerance to internet gambling due to the nature and volume of advertising about IGAMING recently in New Jersey,” said Donald Hoover, Senior Lecturer of Hospitality Management.

The Next Legal Vice: Pot?

Even the more seemingly controversial proposal of marijuana legalization garners comparatively more support than that for online gambling. Four-in-ten registered voters say they support the legalization of small quantities of marijuana for recreational use – a recent proposal in the New Jersey legislature - with 52 percent opposed. Eighty percent of voters have heard or read “a lot” or “some” news about states that have recently legalized the drug.

A defining characteristic of those following legalization news closely, and who support legalization in New Jersey, is the experience of having tried marijuana. Forty-two percent say they’ve tried it, with considerably more Democrats (46%) than Republicans (37%), men (45%) than women (38%), whites (45%) than non-whites (35%) and Baby Boomers (57%) compared to everyone else. The marijuana user or dabbler has followed the news more closely than someone who’s never tried it (85% versus 76%), and supports legalization in the state significantly more than the non-user (62% versus 25%).  

“These numbers point to the possibility that fertile ground exists in the state for those looking to expand legalization beyond medicinal use. Policymakers will likely be watching for changes in public opinion as the percentage difference between those in favor and opposed gets closer to the 50/50 mark. Right now, however, a majority of the public remains opposed,” said Jenkins.

On the question of whether the law allowing medicinal use of marijuana in New Jersey has helped the state, hurt the state, or made no difference, most would say “no harm, no foul.” Two-thirds (63%) say the legalization of medicinal marijuana has neither helped nor hurt the state, with opinion fairly constant across a variety of demographic categories. The only group who believes it’s helped more than hurt in numbers that are considerably greater than others are the Millennials, young people between the ages of 18 and 29. A third of them (35%) say legalized medicinal marijuana has helped the state, with about half that number of older registered voters saying the same.

The Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of 734 registered voters in New Jersey was conducted by telephone with both landline and cell phones from January 20 through January 26 and has a margin of error of +/-3.6 percentage points.

Methodology

The most recent survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind was conducted by telephone from January 20 through January 26 using a randomly selected sample of 734 registered voters who reside in New Jersey. One can be 95 percent confident that the error attributable to sampling has a range of +/- 3.6 percentage points. The margin of error for subgroups is larger and varies by the size of that subgroup. Survey results are also subject to non-sampling error. This kind of error, which cannot be measured, arises from a number of factors including, but not limited to, non-response (eligible individuals refusing to be interviewed), question wording, the order in which questions are asked, and variations among interviewers.

PublicMind interviews are conducted by Opinion America of Cedar Knolls, NJ, with professionally trained interviewers using a CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) system. Random selection >is achieved by computerized random-digit dialing. This technique gives every person with a landline phone number (including those with unlisted numbers) an equal chance of being selected.

Landline households are supplemented with a separate, randomly selected sample of cell-phone respondents interviewed in the same time frame. The total combined sample is mathematically weighted to match known demographics of age, race and gender.

Tables

Do you favor or oppose allowing New Jersey casinos to run online gambling for people in New Jersey?
		PID			Gender		Race		Age
	All	Dem	Ind	Rep	Men	Women	White	Non-white	18-29	30-44	45-59	60+
Favor	32%	28	31	37	42	23	37	22	38	40	33	22
Oppose	57%	61	60	50	47	67	52	68	52	47	58	67
DK/Ref (vol)	11%	10	8	12	10	11	11	9	10	13	8	11

 

Do you favor or oppose allowing New Jersey casinos to run online gambling for people in New Jersey?
	Visited casino in last 12 months
	Yes	No
Favor	41	28
Oppose	44	63
DK/Ref (vol)	15	8

 

TREND Do you favor or oppose the recent decision by the legislature, signed into law by Governor Christie, that allows New Jersey casinos to run online gambling for people in New Jersey?
	March 2013	2012	2011
Favor	41%	31%	26%
Oppose	46%	58%	67%
Unsure	13%	11%	7%

 

Recently, New Jersey made it legal for New Jersey casinos to provide online, or internet, gambling for New Jersey residents. How much have you heard or read about this…?
		PID			Gender		Race		Age
	All	Dem	Ind	Rep	Men	Women	White	Non-white	18-29	30-44	45-59	60+
A lot	25%	25	18	28	26	23	27	19	17	22	28	25
Some	32%	31	29	35	34	29	35	24	22	29	35	34
Just a little	23%	24	25	21	22	24	25	21	23	23	23	25
Nothing at all	20%	21	28	16	18	22	13	36	38	26	14	15
DK/Ref (vol)	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1

 

 

Recently, New Jersey made it legal for New Jersey casinos to provide online, or internet, gambling for New Jersey residents. How much have you heard or read about this…?
	Visited casino in last 12 months
	Yes	No
A lot	34	20
Some	33	32
Just a little	21	24
Nothing at all	12	24
DK/Ref (vol)	0	0

 

Have you or anyone in your households visited a casino or slots parlor in the past 12 months?
		PID			Gender		Race		Age
	All	Dem	Ind	Rep	Men	Women	White	Non-white	18-29	30-44	45-59	60+
Yes	32	28	23	39	31	32	35	25	25	30	36	32
No	68	72	77	61	68	68	65	75	75	70	63	68
DK/Ref	2		1		1			1

 

Some states have made small quantities of marijuana legal for recreational use. How much have you heard or read about these states?
		PID			Gender		Race		Age
	All	Dem	Ind	Rep	Men	Women	White	Non-white	18-29	30-44	45-59	60+
A lot	45%	43	44	47	51	39	45	45	51	43	42	47
Some	35%	35	32	39	34	36	38	27	26	38	36	36
Just a little	14%	15	16	12	11	17	13	19	14	17	14	13
Nothing at all	5%	6	7	2	4	7	4	7	9	3	6	4
DK/Ref (vol)	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	-

 

Some states have made small quantities of marijuana legal for recreational use. How much have you heard or read about these states?
	Any marijuana use in lifetime
	Yes	No
A lot	51	41
Some	34	35
Just a little	11	17
Nothing at all	4	6
DK/Ref (vol)	0	0

 

Here in New Jersey, do you favor or oppose legalizing of small quantities of marijuana for recreational use?
		PID			Gender		Race		Age
	All	Dem	Ind	Rep	Men	Women	White	Non-white	18-29	30-44	45-59	60+
Favor	41%	50	42	30	50	34	44	34	59	36	45	36
Oppose	52%	44	49	66	46	59	50	60	38	57	50	58
DK/Ref (vol)	6%	6	9	4	4	7	5	7	3	7	5	6

 

Here in New Jersey, do you favor or oppose legalizing of small quantities of marijuana for recreational use?
	Any marijuana use in lifetime
	Yes	No
Favor	62	25
Oppose	35	66
DK/Ref (vol)	3	8

 

It’s been a little more than a year since the state’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened. Do you think thathaving medical marijuana has helped the state, hurt the state, or hasn’t made much difference at all?
		PID			Gender		Race		Age
	All	Dem	Ind	Rep	Men	Women	White	Non-white	18-29	30-44	45-59	60+
Helped	19%	25	14	12	22	17	16	26	35	15	18	18
Hurt	5%	4	6	6	3	6	4	7	12	3	3	5
No diff	63%	58	64	70	64	61	65	55	45	71	65	59
DK/Ref (vol)	13%	14	16	12	11	16	14	12	8	10	14	18

 

It’s been a little more than a year since the state’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened. Do you think that having medical marijuana has helped the state, hurt the state, or hasn’t made much difference at all?
	Any marijuana use in lifetime
	Yes	No
Helped	24	15
Hurt	2	7
No diff	66	61
DK/Ref (vol)	8	17

 

Many people have tried marijuana at some point in their life. What about you/ Have you ever tried marijuana?
		PID			Gender		Race		Age
	All	Dem	Ind	Rep	Men	Women	White	Non-white	18-29	30-44	45-59	60+
Yes	42%	46	41	37	45	38	45	35	29	40	57	34
No	52%	49	52	57	48	57	49	62	68	56	36	63
DK/Ref (vol)	6%	5	6	6	7	5	6	4	4	4	7	4

 

Exact Question Wording and Order

 

US1 and US2 released January 29, 2014

 

NJ1 released January 28, 2014

 

NJ2 released January 29, 2014

 

NJ3 through NJ5 released January 28, 2014

 

NJ6 and NJ7 released January 29, 2014

 

VICE1  Recently, New Jersey made it legal for New Jersey casinos to provide on-line, or internet, gambling for New Jersey residents. How much have you heard or read about this…?

1          A lot

2          Some

3          A little 

4          Nothing at all

8          DK/Ref

 

VICE2  Do you favor or oppose allowing New Jersey casinos to run online gambling for people in New Jersey?

1          Favor

2          Oppose

8          DK/Ref

 

VICE3  Some states have made small quantities of marijuana legal for recreational use. How much have you heard or read about these states?

1          A lot

2          Some

3          A little 

4          Nothing at all

8          DK/Ref

 

VICE4  Here in New Jersey, do you favor or oppose legalizing of small quantities of marijuana for recreational use?

1          Favor

2          Oppose

8          DK/Ref

 

VICE5  It’s been a little more than a year since the state’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened. Do you think that having medical marijuana has helped the state, hurt the state, or hasn’t made much difference at all?

1          Helped

2          Hurt

3          Hasn’t made a difference

8          DK/Ref

 

 

D10     Have you or anyone in your household visited a casino or slots parlor in the past 12 months?

1          Yes      ]

2          No

8          DK       (vol)

9          Refused (vol)

 

 

D11     Since the New Jersey law went into effect, have you or anyone in your household, or even a friend, participated in online gambling?

1          Yes

2          No

8          DK/Ref

 

D12     Many people have tried marijuana at some point in their life. What about you? Have you ever tried marijuana?

1          Yes

2          No

8          DK/Ref

 

 

 

Sample characteristics – Registered voters

Gender

Male	49
Female	51

Age

18-29	12
30-44	26
45-59	32
60+	28
Refused	2

Race/Ethnicity

White	69
Black/African-American	13
Latino or Hispanic	9
Asian	5
Other/refused	4

Public employee household

Yes	25
No	73
Unsure/refused	2

Party identification

Democrat/Lean Democrat	44
Independent/DK/refused	23
Republican/Lean Republican	33

 

 

 

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