From the New Jersey AP:

About half of New Jerseyans believe that gay couples should be allowed to marry, according to a new poll.

The Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll released Wednesday finds that 48 percent of New Jersey residents favor gay marriage, with 43 percent opposed.

Fifty percent oppose amending the state Constitution to ban gay marriage. Forty-one percent favor such a ban.

New Jersey currently allows gay couples to join in civil unions, which offer the legal protections of marriage. Gay rights advocates are pushing lawmakers to allow full marriage as Connecticut and Massachusetts do.

The poll was conducted by telephone with 402 New Jersey adults from Feb. 2-8 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.