Buckle up dogs in cars? New Jersey voters divided on proposed law

Here’s something else for Democrats and Republicans to disagree about: whether dog owners should be required to buckle up their pets on car trips.

A new poll shows that New Jersey voters narrowly support, by a 45% to 40% margin, a proposed state law that would require drivers to restrain their dogs in the car or risk a $20 fine and a possible animal cruelty charge.

Democrats favor the proposal more than Republicans, 51% to 36%, according to the survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind poll.

Dan Cassino, a Fairleigh Dickinson political science professor, called it a “clear instance in which Democrats support government intervention in what had been a private sphere, and Republicans oppose it.�

Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer, a Democrat and dog owner, introduced the legislation out of concern that loose pets riding on motorists’ laps can be “more of a distraction than a cellphone, especially if the animal is hopping from seat to seat, trying to sit on your lap, or worse, jump down by your feet.’’

The legislation is supported by 48% of voters who don’t own a dog but by just 38% of those who do own a dog.

“The people who are going to be most impacted by this bill – people who actually own dogs – don’t like it,� Cassino said in a statement. “If nothing else, buying a restraint is going to cost them money.�

But there is bipartisan agreement that dog owners shouldn’t be transporting dogs in crates on the car roof, as Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney did during a 1983 family vacation, according to the poll of 901 registered voters. Eighty-six percent disapproved.

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