TRENTON -- A new poll shows a majority of New Jersey voters approve of increasing the state's minimum wage, legalizing marijuana and requiring background checks for all gun buyers.

The Quinnipiac University survey released Thursday found 74 percent of voters approved hiking the sate's $8.44 an hour minimum wage, while 24 percent disapprove. That includes a 50 to 46 percent approval rate from Republicans.

The poll shows:

* 9 percent say there should be no increase.

* 49 percent say there should be an increase to something less than $15 an hour.

* 32 percent say the new minimum wage should be $15 an hour.

* 8 percent say it should be higher than $15 an hour.

On marijuana, 59 percent of voters support allowing adults to legally possess small amounts of marijuana for recreational use.

The only group opposed is Republicans, who are 53 to 43 percent against the idea. Voters over 65 years old are split, with 47 percent in favor and 50 percent opposed.

Still, 55 percent of voters say they would "definitely not try" marijuana if it were legal, while 9 percent say they would "definitely try" it and 12 percent say they would "probably try it."

New Jersey Democrats have introduced a bill that would make New Jersey the ninth state in the U.S. to legalize and tax marijuana.

Phil Murphy, the Democratic nominee running in this year's race to succeed Chris Christie as governor, favors legalizing and taxing pot. Republican nominee Kim Guadagno, Christie's lieutenant governor, favors only decriminalizing marijuana.

On guns, Thursday's poll shows 96 percent of voters are in favor of requiring background checks for all gun buyers. Only 3 percent oppose.

The survey also found 63 percent say New Jersey would be less safe if more people carried firearms, while 28 percent say it would be safer.

The results are not surprising. Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans nearly 2-to-1 in the state.

The poll was conducted via phone from Sept. 7-12 with 1,121 registered New Jersey voters. The margin-of-error was plus-or-munes 4 percentage points.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.