Just so we’re clear: This is why we can’t get a Buc-ee’s.
Now, I’m not saying Buc-ee’s will come to New Jersey if we allow self-serve gas, there certainly are a number of obstacles. But it’s never coming if we don’t (See fun profile here).
We bring this up as a note regarding the results of the FDU Poll on whether New Jersey should allow self-serve gas.
The latest results from the FDU Poll show voters oppose changing the rules to allow self-service, with 64 percent of voters want to keep the status quo, and 24 percent want to move to self-service. As in the past, support for full-service gas is higher among women (74 percent) than men (56 percent), but even among New Jersey men, a majority want to keep full service.
Dan Cassino, a Professor of Government and Politics at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and the Executive Director of the FDU Poll, said he appreciates a unique aspect of the findings.
“At a time when everything seems unstable, it’s good to know that there are some things that just don’t change,” he said. “New Jersey voters have never wanted to pump their own gas, and they still don’t want to pump their own gas.”
As for the male-female difference?
“In the past, full-service gas has been seen as a safety measure for women,” Cassino said. “But the gap between men and women could also just be men saying that they like doing things with their cars.”
Perhaps surprisingly, support for full-service gas is slightly higher among young voters, with 68 percent support among voters 30 and under, falling to 61 percent among seniors. Democrats are also more supportive of the current system than Republicans, but this seems to be driven largely by sex and age, rather than any direct effect of political views.
To be clear, Cassino points out, these questions were asked as part of a survey experiment, the results of which will be released later. This means that the FDU Poll made use of different methodologies than in our normal polls, and the results are subject to a larger margin of error driven by the need for larger than usual weights on the data.
Then again, the results are strikingly similar to a poll on the subject taken in 2012.
Then, 63 percent of voters wanted to keep the status quo of full-service, with 23 percent wanting to follow the rest of the country and move to self-serve gas stations.
The only real change has come down South: Buc-ees began its massive expansion in the 2010s.
