New Jersey fickle about gay marriage

Back in June, an Eagleton-Rutgers poll showed that a majority of New Jersey residents supported gay marriage - 50 percent to 44 percent. In the wake of the recent state Supreme Court decision that backed full rights for gay couples but left it up to the Legislature to decide whether to legalize gay marriage, many residents have had a change of heart.

In a poll released yesterday, only 29 percent of New Jerseyans supported gay marriage. Forty percent supported civil unions and 16 percent favored giving gay couples no legal recognition at all. The most stunning turnabout of all: By a 54 percent to 38 percent margin, most state residents polled support a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of husband and wife.