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For immediate release 3 pages

Contact: Krista Jenkins [redacted]; kjenkins@fdu.edu

Fairleigh Dickinson’s PublicMind Finds Support Increasing For Casino Expansion in New Jersey

Fairleigh Dickinson University, January 19, 2016 – Garden State residents remain largely opposed to a proposed expansion of casinos beyond Atlantic City, but the most recent survey of adults from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds that opposition has decreased since June of 2015. Fifty percent say they oppose the idea of casino expansion, with 42 percent who say they are in favor. In June, 56 percent were opposed and 37 percent said they favored the idea.

“The public continues to be skeptical, and though opposition is down from levels measured last year, it remains at levels measured in previous years,” said Krista Jenkins, professor of political science and director of PublicMind. “The increased acceptance of expanding gambling outside of Atlantic City may be the result of receiving more clarity surrounding recent legislative efforts to allow gambling expansion in New Jersey. As the details of the legislature’s intentions become known, the public’s opinions will be affected. In addition, gambling interests will launch vigorous advertising campaigns in order to change people’s opinions.”

Support has increased across the board, with the biggest gains among the youngest residents. In June of 2015, 42 percent of those between the ages of 18 and 34 were in favor of expansion. Today that number has increased to more than half (52%). And again, as with past surveys, more men are in favor of expansion than women. For example, in June 2015, 41 percent of men were in favor with 33 percent of women who said the same. Today, a ten percentage point difference separates men from women in their support of casino expansion (47 and 37 percent, respectively).

Methodology - The Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind survey was conducted by landline and cellular telephone January 4-10, 2016 among a random statewide sample of 902 adult residents. Results have a margin of sampling error of +/- 3.6 points, including the design effect.

Methodology, questions, and tables on the web at: http://publicmind.fdu.edu

Radio actualities at [redacted] For more information, please call [redacted]

Methodology

The most recent survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind was conducted by telephone from January 4-10, using a randomly selected sample of 902 adult residents in New Jersey. One can be 95 percent confident that the error attributable to sampling has a range of +/- 3.6 percentage points, including the design effect. 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 gender, age, education, and race. 541 interviews were conducted on landlines and 361 were conducted on cellular telephones.

The sample was purchased from Marketing Systems Group and the research was funded by Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Tables

I’d like to ask you about a number of proposed amendments to the state constitution that might be on the ballot in November of this year. Can you please tell me how much you’ve heard or read about each of the following?

Do you favor or oppose [rotate] expanding casino gambling to other areas in the state besides Atlantic City?
		PID	Gender	Race	Age
	All	Dem	Ind	Repub	Male	Female	White	Non-white	18-34	35-59	60+
Favor	42%	41	45	41	47	37	43	39	52	37	40
Oppose	50%	50	49	50	46	53	49	51	39	54	52
DK (vol)	8%	8	5	7	6	9	7	9	9	7	7
Refused (vol)	1%	0	1	2	1	1	1	1	0	1	1

Right now, casino gambling in New Jersey is limited to Atlantic City. Do you favor or oppose [rotate] expanding casino gambling to other areas in the state?
			PID – June 2015	Age – June 2015
	Jan 2016	June 2015	Feb 2015	July 2014	June 2010	Feb 2009	Dem	Ind	Repub	18-34	35-59	60+
Favor	42%	37%	36%	42%	42%	24%	35	39	39	42	37	32
Oppose	50%	56%	57%	50%	49%	70%	56	54	60	48	56	64
DK/Ref (vol)	9%	6%	8%	8%	9%	6%	9	7	2	10	7	3

A proposed amendment to allow gambling in the state to extend to other parts of the state besides Atlantic city
		PID	Gender	Race	Age
	All	Dem	Ind	Repub	Male	Female	White	Non-white	18-34	35-59	60+
A lot	23%	20	35	21	27	19	25	16	11	23	30
Some	30%	32	24	31	30	29	30	29	22	35	28
Just a little	23%	23	22	24	22	24	22	25	29	20	22
Nothing at all	24%	25	18	25	20	27	23	29	38	22	18
DK (vol)	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Refused (vol)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Exact Question Wording and Order

US1 and US2 withheld

NJ1 through NJ6 released January 12, 2016

AC1 A proposed amendment to allow gambling in the state to extend to other parts of the state besides Atlantic City

1 A lot

2 Some

3 Just a little

4 Nothing at all

8 DK (vol)

9 Refused (vol)

PENS1 and TTF1 withheld

[Rotate AC2 through TTF2 and responses within each]

AC2 Do you favor or oppose expanding casino gambling to other areas in the state BESIDES ATLANTIC CITY?

1 Favor

2 Oppose

8 DK (vol)

9 Refused (vol)

PENS2 through TTF2 withheld

Weighted sample characteristics


Gender	Male	49%
	Female	51%
Age	18-34	28%
	35-59	41%
	60+	30%
	Refused	1%
Race	White	64%
	African American	12%
	Hispanic	4%
	Asian	15%
	Other/Refused	4%
Party (with leaners)	Dem	43%
	Ind/DK/Refused	21%
	Repub	36%