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.’’
