Pennsylvania Voters support Gay Marriage

A slim majority of Pennsylvania voters supports legalizing gay marriage, an issue that will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court next month.

Fifty-two percent support gay marriage, a Franklin & Marshall poll made public Thursday shows, up from 33 percent support measured by the college in a 2006 poll. The increased support mirrors a national trend and the results of a Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll in December 2011.

Muhlenberg pollster Chris Borick has been watching views on gay marriage shift dramatically. Support rose from 35 percent in 2004, to 42 percent in 2009, to 52 percent in 2011. In polling terms, he said, that's "meteoric."

It's also largely generational. Of Pennsylvanians younger than 35, 79 percent support gay marriage, while those over 55 back gay marriage by 42 percent, said G. Terry Madonna, pollster for F&M in Lancaster.

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"I think in 25 years this is not going to be much of an issue," Madonna said.

The issue has seen significant turning points in just the last year. President Barack Obama voiced his support for gay marriage ahead of the 2012 election, the national Democrats added it to their party platform and the president's inaugural address last month was the first to include mention of gay rights.

At the end of March, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over the constitutionality of two laws, one federal and one from California, that define marriage as between one man and one woman. Nine states — Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington — have legalized gay marriage.

Adrian Shanker of Bethlehem, president of Equality Pennsylvania, a nonprofit that advocates for gay equality, said Pennsylvanians and most Americans, particularly younger ones, are now viewing the gay marriage issue as a matter of civil rights.

"In six years, which is not that long in terms of public opinion on most issues, we've just seen a sea change," he said. "I think hearts and minds have been changing. ... Those who actively oppose it are shrinking every single day."

- continue reading at  F&M 

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• Poll: Gay Marriage Gaining Support, Especially Among Catholics (queerchurchnews.wordpress.com)
• Pontifical Council for the Family Head: "Vatican Should Do More To Support Gay Couples" (news.queerchurch.com)
• POLL: Majority Of Pennsylvanians Support Marriage Equality (thinkprogress.org)
• Illinois gay marriage bill clears first of many hurdles (wgntv.com)

Poll: National Support for Marriage Equality Soars

In the US, the  balance of support on gay marriage continues to shift, and rapidly. Not only is total support increasing, so is the intensity of that support. In a new NBC / Washington Post poll, those "strongly" in favour increased from just 18% in 2004, to 32% in 2012. Conversely, the proportion "strongly" opposed collapsed from 51% to 31% over the same period.

Commentary at Seattlepi illustrates how this is an almost exact flip from the time when Republicans used gay marriage as a wedge issue to weaken the Democrats. This time around, the wedge issue will be setting Republicans against each other. (In all the recent wins for equality over the past year, victories have come with the help of GOP senators and politicians. In Colorado, where the state House is facing a bill to introduce civil unions, the Republicans are said to be evenly divided in a 3 - way split: for, against, don't care).

Support for same-sex marriage is up sharply in a dramatic public opinion shift from as recently as three years ago, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Monday morning.

The national poll showed 49 percent of Americans favoring marriage equality with 40 percent opposed. Support among younger voters approaches 60 percent. Only two groups among those surveyed — voters over 65 and Tea Party supporters — werein opposition.

The figures are an almost precise flip on the issue from an NBC/Journal poll in October of 2009. At that time, 41 percent favored same-sex marriage while 49 percent were opposed.

In 2004, Republicans used more than 20 statewide ballot measures, defining marriage as between a man and a woman, to get evangelical voters to turn out at the polls for President Bush’s reelection.

Same-sex marriage was opposed by a 30-62 percent margin in an NBC/Journal survey taken at the time.

“Progress is happening: The Republican Party, in what its presidential candidates are saying, is out of step with the mainstream,” said State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, sponsor of Washington’s marriage equality legislation.

via seattlepi.com.

These results are also bad news for NOM and the other opponents of gay marriage. After the victory in New York last year, they pledged to raise money to campaign against any Republicans who voted in favour, a pledge they have repeated wherever gay marriage has advanced. In doing so, they may help their targeted officials, more then they hurt them. More voters say that they are more likely to vote for a supporter of marriage, than for an opponent.

Dramatic leap in support for gay marriage: California poll.

A new poll shows gay marriage has arrived in California – in public opinion if not in state lawbooks.Golden State registered voters now favor same-sex unions by 59 percent to 34 percent, a 25-point gap that is the largest margin of support for the issue in the three-plus decades the Field Poll has been asking the question.

The new Field survey shows support has leapt markedly in the three and a half years since California voters approved Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage, 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent.
Poll Director Mark DiCamillo said the move to a 25-point gap goes beyond the gradual increase in support that has been expected as young voters age and "replace" older voters in the electorate.
"This is now showing that opinions are changing irrespective of generational replacement," DiCamillo said. "This is real change."

-The Sacramento Bee

(The Sacramento Bee also has links here to the detailed results)
'via Blog this'

Iowa Poll: Majority opposes ban on same-sex marriage | The Des Moines Register | DesMoinesRegister.com

In Iowa, Republican state legislators are trying to force through a constitutional amendment by public ballot to overturn the 2009 court decision that provided for gay marriage - but most Iowans are against the idea:

Iowa Poll: Majority opposes ban on same-sex marriage

"A majority of Iowans oppose passage of a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, a new Des Moines Register Iowa Poll shows.

The poll found that 38 percent favor a legislative initiative to pass a constitutional amendment, while 56 percent are against. Six percent aren’t sure.

The findings show little movement on the issue from February 2011, when 40 percent of those surveyed supported passing an amendment, while 54 percent were opposed."

 The Des Moines Register

Marriage equality is here to stay, in Iowa. The proposed ballot has passed in the house, but is stalled in the state Senate, where the Democrats have a narrow majority, and the Senate president won't even consider introducing it. Even if it is introduced and passed, that will not end it. It will need to be passed again, in both houses, in the next legislative session, 2013 - 2014. With public opinion turning against them, even some GOP senators may well turn against a public vote, just as they are currently doing in New Hampshire. 

Then - they still have to win the balllot. If public opinion is against overturn now, that will be even more true in another two years.

'via Blog this'

61% of UK Christians back equal rights for gay couples - Survey

<p style="text-align: justify;">There is extensive evidence that the US is moving to embrace full equality for lesbian and gay couples, and that Catholics are more supportive than the population at large. American Evangelicals though, remain (mostly) hostile. There has not been nearly as much polling for the UK, but a new survey shows even more support than in the US - including from 61% of all Christians.</p>

<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a style="text-align: -webkit-auto;" href="http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/02/14/uk-study-61-of-christians-back-equal-gay-rights/">61% of Christians back equal rights for gay couples</a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/02/14/uk-study-61-of-christians-back-equal-gay-rights/"><img src="http://queeringthechurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/bible3.jpg" alt="" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #000080;"><em>Results of a poll released today say 61% of people in the UK who identify as Christian back fully equal rights for gay couples.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #000080;"><em>The 2011 Ipsos MORI study explored the “beliefs, knowledge and attitudes” of people who identified as Christian after the nationwide census last year.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #000080;"><em>74% of respondents said as Christians they thought religion should not have a special influence on public life.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #000080;"><em>The survey was conducted on behalf of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #000080;"><em>Six in ten respondents, 61%, agreed that gays should have the same rights in all aspects of their lives as straight people.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #000080;"><em>Only 29% said they disapproved of sexual relationships between gays. Nearly half said they did not actively disapprove.</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2012/02/14/uk-study-61-of-christians-back-equal-gay-rights/"> - full report at  PinkNews.co.uk</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;">A word of caution here, is that the survey was sponsored by the explicitly secularist Richard Dawkins Foundation, which is using the results to demonstrate that the UK is a secular society, and not a "Christian country". It does not appear to have released the full questionnaire or tables. The only results currently available are those selected for inclusion in the press release by the Foundation. In particular, the description "Christian" appears to be used for those who describe themselves as such - many of whom do not actively practice their religion.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">There is no reason to disregard the main thrust of the finding though, which is in agreement with what previous research is available. British opinion is firmly on the side of LGBT inclusion - and that includes those who think of themselves Christian.</p>

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New poll finds support for gay marriage law

"A new statewide poll by the University of Washington Center for Survey Research found most voters would support a state gay marriage law if it's approved by the Legislature.

Of voters surveyed, 55 percent indicated they would uphold a Legislature-approved same-sex marriage law if it were challenged by referendum. The poll found 38 percent would oppose the law and 7 percent were undecided.

However, additional questions in the poll found that 44 percent of voters surveyed said gays and lesbians should have the same legal right as straight couples to marry; and 22 percent said they should have the same legal rights as married couples, but it should not be called marriage.

State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, and Rep. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, have said they're considering a push for gay marriage in the next regular session in January. Both men have worked on gay rights issues for years and have been building incrementally toward gay marriage.

Seattle Times Newspaper 

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State fair polls: No to gay marriage ban!

The Minnesota State Fair is officially over and the results of the annual House and Senate polls are in.

Both chambers had record numbers of participants this year, with upwards of 12,500 fair-goers stopping in at the House booth to take the survey, and nearly 8,500 people participating in the Senate’s unscientific poll.

Some of the more notable results in the House: 66.5 percent said that the state should not amend the constitution to ban gay marriage, while 29.8 said it should be changed. A photo identification requirement at the polls won the favor of 50.8 percent of state fair participants, while 46.4 percent of people did not support the legislation. That’s a considerable drop from support in years past, when the bill approached 70 percent approval from poll participants."

-read more at Politics in Minnesota

Opposition to Gay Marriage Not Socially Acceptable?

"One of the fascinating snippets in a new opinion poll on same sex marriage and more general LGBT equality, is that opposition to queer equality may be going the same way. A narrow majority of Americans now believe that it is more acceptable to support same-sex marriage than to oppose it."

-read the full analysis at Queering the Church

Majority Favor Gay Marriage In New Jersey | On Top Magazine :: Gay & Lesbian News, Entertainment, Commentary & Travel

"A majority of New Jersey voters favor the legalization of gay marriage, a new poll found.
Fifty-two percent of respondents said they support marriage equality, 32 percent were opposed, and 16 percent unsure. Pollsters at Rutgers University's the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling surveyed 615 registered voters by telephone from August 9 – 15. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percentage points.
“We were surprised by the margin favoring gay marriage, which is much greater than previously reported,” said David Redlawsk, director of the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll and professor of political science at Rutgers."

On Top Magazine

Poll shows Pennsylvanians backing same-sex marriage

"Half of Pennsylvanians favor a constitutional amendment to legalize same-sex marriage and an even larger percentage think the state should at least allow civil unions, according to a Franklin & Marshall College unveiled Wednesday.

The poll shows about a third (33 percent) strongly favor a constitutional amendment that would allow homosexual couples to get married and about another sixth (17 percent), said they would somewhat favor a constitutional amendment to legalize same-sex marriage."

The poll shows more than three-fifths (62 percent) at least somewhat favor passage of a state law that would allow homosexual couple to legally form civil unions, giving them some of the legal rights of married couples. Of those, almost two-fifths (37 percent) strongly favor allowing civil unions.

That represents a sharp shift since June 2009, the last time F&M asked about same-sex marriage. Back then, the results were almost exactly reversed with a majority (52 percent) opposed to the legalization amendment and only about two-fifths (42 percent) in favor. On civil unions, 58 percent were in favor in 2009, while only 42 percent were in favor in February 2004, an era when same-sex marriage played a key role in the presidential election that year.

- Daily Review