A bare majority of New Jerseyans accept evolution, according to a new poll from Monmouth University and the Asbury Park Press. Asked "whether or not you personally believe in ... the theory of evolution — that humans evolved from lower life forms," 51% of respondents said yes, 42% said no, and 7% volunteered that they don't know. Democrats and independents, males, college graduates, and people between 35 and 54 years of age were more likely to answer yes; Republicans, females, those with only a high school education or less, and people over 55 years of age were more likely to answer no.
According to the report (PDF), "The poll was conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute on April 11 to 15, 2012 with a statewide random sample of 804 adult residents, including 644 contacted on a landline telephone and 160 on a cell phone. Live interviewing services were provided by Braun Research, Inc. and the telephone sample was obtained from Survey Sampling International. ... For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling has a maximum margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points."