Poll: N.J. residents prefer to have gas pumped for them

New Jersey and Oregon are the only two states that prohibit motorists from pumping their own gas.

Results of a new poll find that New Jersey residents like it that way.

The ban on self-service gas stations in New Jersey has been in effect since 1949. Sixty-three percent of voters polled support the ban, said Peter Woolley, Fairleigh Dickinson University poll director.

“People who are more conscious of the dirtier aspects of pumping your own gas are more likely to say it’s really a heck of a convenience to have somebody else pump it and not have to worry about it,” said Woolley. “Whether it’s raining, it’s sleeting or it’s snowing, somebody else has got to pump that gas for you.”

Even with mandatory full-serve, New Jersey prices are lower than pump-your-own gas in surrounding states because the Garden State’s gasoline tax is one of the lowest in the nation.