Slim majority back gay marriage, Post-ABC poll says

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

A slim majority of Americans now support gay marriage, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The results underscore the nation’s increasingly tolerant views about homosexuals, and parallel a string of recent legal and legislative victories for gay rights advocates.

Five years ago, at 36 percent, support for gay marriage barely topped a third of all Americans. Now, 53 percent say gay marriage should be legal, marking the first time in Post-ABC polling that a majority has said so.

“This is very consistent with a lot of other polling data we’ve seen and the general momentum we’ve seen over the past year and a half,” said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, a leading pro-gay-marriage group. “As people have come to understand this is about loving, committed families dealing, like everyone, with tough times, they understand how unfair it is to treat them differently.”

Opponents of same-sex marriage took issue with the poll, which asks respondents: “Do you think it should be legal or illegal for gay and lesbian couples to get married?” Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, argued that the term “illegal” could be inferred to mean that violators could be imprisoned, which most Americans would consider harsh.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/slim_majority_back_gay_marriage_post_abc_poll_says/2011/03/17/ABhMc7o_story.html

[Kerrytravelers]

1. Or, Mr. Brown, people could just not be bigoted like you and think barring marriage for all is harsh

[think]

2. I have to wonder how many opportunities I've missed

to participate in these phone polls since I only own a cellphone. I do not answer calls that are listed as private or as a toll free without telling me who it is. It would be nice to see a break down of the demographics..

[rocktivity]

3. Lucky for the gays it isn't a majority rules issue.

It's as much as civil rights issue as reproductive rights and voting is.

Or, in the immortal word of Dick Cheney, "So?"

:headbang:
rocktivity

[eleny]

4. That's the kind of number the GOP usually calls "a mandate"

:rofl:

[DirkGently]

5. In other news, Americans begrudgingly begin to admit slavery was a bad idea. Jesus.

[Unvanguard]

6. NOM is a vile and deceptive organization, but these poll numbers are probably high.

They are not really believable until they start translating into electoral results. This is starting to happen, but very slowly, and full success is only being achieved in states that are both blue and very socially liberal.

[EFerrari]

8. Like Iowa?

The polling has said for a long time that people are in favor of giving GLBT partnerships full legal rights. There seems to be some resistance to the word "marriage" but that's going away at a good clip.

Here's a blub from the Iowa Wikipedia entry on public opinion:

A 2010 survey found that support for same-sex marriage in Iowa was 44%, the only state with same-sex marriage in which support was below 50%.<19> Support in Iowa has increased from below 30% in 1994-96, and from below 40% in 1997-98.<20> A January, 2010, survey found that greater than 60% of Iowans agreed that same-sex marriage "does not deserve the Legislature's limited time" in the 2010 session, a truncated session in which legislation was introduced to overturn the same-sex marriage decision.<21> This followed a previous September 2009 poll which found 41% support for and 40% opposition to a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, and that 92% of respondents said "marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples had led to 'no real change' in their own lives."<21>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Iowa#Public_opinion

Regardless, this issue is a constitutional one.

[Unvanguard]

10. Electoral results in Iowa have been terrible.

Which is actually a pretty good indication of where we stand today.

Same-sex marriage will probably be kept in Iowa, but it is a close thing. The only reason a constitutional amendment hasn't passed the Legislature this session is because of the political courage of the Senate President, and he retains control by a 26-24 split. If the Republicans gain control of both houses next election, it is hard to say what will happen; the results of the judicial retention election last November (in which the three Supreme Court justices up for retention were rejected, thanks to a campaign targeting them for the same-sex marriage ruling) are certainly not encouraging.

When push comes to shove, some people who say in polls that they support "civil unions" will vote to retain same-sex marriage, and others won't; some will go so far as to vote for constitutional amendments banning both same-sex marriage and civil unions. Public opinion is an amorphous thing, and the fact that people react in a certain way to a question like "Should it be legal or illegal for two people of the same sex to marry?" is not necessarily determinative of how they will vote in elections on the topic, where the issue will be put into alternative frames also. So, for example, some substantial percentage of Californians who were perhaps willing to accept the abstract prospect of same-sex couples marrying (and who might have said in June or July, when polling was positive for equality, that they were going to vote "no" on Prop. 8) nonetheless were sufficiently disturbed by Yes on 8's lies about the broader social effects of same-sex marriage that they voted "yes" anyway. There is a lot of residual discomfort with the issue even among apparent supporters, and anti-gay political campaigns exploit this.

You're absolutely right that this is a constitutional issue, and the best outcome I can imagine is a swift and total victory for the plaintiffs in the Prop. 8 case, but I wouldn't bet on it. And after the disappointment of the failure in Maryland (which is my birth state) last week, I'm not in a very optimistic mood.

[EFerrari]

11. If it's any comfort, the vote on H8 in Los Angeles County

was studied by a reputable election watchdog group and it was found to be corrupted. So, it's doubtful that it actually passed in the first place. Remember, LA County elections took weeks to get a result for the presidential primary because their systems are cr@p and their election protection is, too. That goes a ways to explaining the difference in the polling and in the vote.

The other thing that is encouraging is that the young people vote with gay rights. So in a sense, there is generational resistance that is easing up all the time.

The Republicans and the churches that benefit from using this issue will play dirty tricks, but equality is winning this one. It's a bright spot in a pretty turbulent landscape, imo. :)

[JanDutchy]

7. Marriage - includes same-same or whatever marriage - is not depending on polls. It is a Human Right

[Dappleganger]

9. Civil rights should not be up for a popular vote.

[JanDutchy]

13. But if you 'think' that comerad:: you abuse yourself. Power to the people!

Power to all my frieds, for you and others :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRafhXbg6uA

[SpartanDem]

14. They shouldn't, but they have alway been in some fashion

whether it's the abolition of slavery, women's suffrage, or the civil rights movement none succeed until popular opinion changed.

[Zoeisright]

18. PLUS ONE BILLION

THAT is exactly right.

[David__77]

12. Eh, they back it till they don't really. We need 60%+ to be comfortable.

There are plenty who say one thing and believe another. Times are changing for the better, yes. Years ago, it was truly overwhelmingly against.

[_ed_]

15. Obama still holds the bigoted view that marriage

is between one man and one woman. He says he "struggles" with it.

Bigotry is bigotry is bigotry.

[alp227]

17. can't people have their own personal opinions without revoking others' rights? n/t

[Zorra]

16. Should christians or muslims be allowed to get married?

In the Sacred Book of Woo Woo, the prophet Bozo, in the Book of Bigotry, specifically states that the Grand Wazoo hates christians and muslims, and that they are an abomination that should be shunned and hated by all who worship the Grand Wazoo.

Allowing them to marry would be a great offense to the Grand Wazoo.

We live in a Wazoo nation, founded on Wazoo principles.

Next thing you know, they will be trying to force acceptance of interracial couples upon us.

[calimary]

19. That headline is both annoying and misleading.

"Slim Majority Back Gay Marriage"?

Makes it sound as though "ONLY a teensy weensy negligible 'majority' back this God-forsaken thing." When in full context the TRUTH is "Approval of Gay Marriage Now Over 50%." Or "...Now Tops 50%." That would far more accurately reflect the actual content of the story. Wonder who wrote that headline - and who edited? Am I picking up a whiff of bias, maybe?