NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – With a move afoot in the New Jersey Senate to end the 73-year-old prohibition of pumping your own gas, a new poll this week showed most residents don’t want to pump their own gas.
Not having to pump your own gas is one of the last remaining benefits of being a New Jersey citizen in a state that is among the highest gas prices in the country, highest taxes, and highest cost of living.
Now, legislators want to take it away.
Dubbed the “Motorist Fueling Choice and Convenience Act”, by Democrat sponsor Carol Murphy and Republican co-sponsors Ed Thomson and Robert Clifton, the bill, if passed and signed into law by Governor Phil Murphy would allow gas station operators to allow customers to pump their own gas.
The Rutgers-Eagleton Poll says most New Jerseyans want to keep it the way it is.
“New Jerseyans might not agree on whether a popular breakfast sandwich should be called pork roll or Taylor Ham, but when it comes to pumping their own gas, the message is clear: almost three-quarters of them don’t want anything to do with it, according to a new Rutgers-Eagleton Poll,” Megan Schuman said in a release published by the polling institute. “Despite a new bill that was introduced earlier this week by state lawmakers that would allow the option for self-service gas in New Jersey, only 5 percent of those polled were unsure of whether they wanted the change while an overwhelming 73 percent of residents said they prefer having their gas pumped for them and only 22 percent said the opposite.”
“There is apparently one thing all New Jerseyans can agree on nowadays and that’s the time-honored Jersey tradition of having your gas pumped for you,” said Ashley Koning, an assistant research professor and director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. “But let’s also remember that this single survey question does not reflect the full debate and complexities of the moment that include a global pandemic, an employment crisis, and now an oil crisis. Context plays a crucial role in public opinion. A large majority wants full service in the Garden State, but this preference does not mean automatic opposition to a self-serve option.”
“Support for having gas pumped is widespread, but there are some notable demographic differences. Partisans of all stripes prefer full service, though to varying degrees: Democrats are most likely to prefer having their gas pumped for them (82 percent), followed by Independents (70 percent) and Republicans (64 percent),” the poll found. “While large majorities of racial and ethnic groups prefer having their gas pumped for them, white residents (30 percent) are about twice as likely as Black residents (15 percent) and Hispanic residents (17 percent) to say they prefer pumping their own.”
“Under the 1949 Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act, pumping your own gas in New Jersey is unlawful. The statute, N.J.S.A. 34:3A:10, imposes penalties for violating the act and these consequences range from $50 to $250 fine for the first offense, and not to exceed $500 for each subsequent offense thereafter,” According to the state law, reported by NJ Traffic Court.
“With New Jersey opening up more and residents going back to work, now more than ever they should have the freedom to choose how to save time in their busy schedules,” Ned Thomson said. “Motorists in every other state are able to pump their own gas, and if a consumer wants to choose to not wait for an attendant, that choice should not be denied to them by state law.”