MAGGIE GALLAGHER ON GOP POLITICS OF SSM: From National Review Online

...Last summer, after the Lawrence decision put a big media spotlight on gay marriage, American support for civil unions dropped 12 percentage points. A Pew poll released last month confirmed the same development: rising opposition to gay marriage (from 53 percent in July to 59 percent in October). Perhaps most strikingly, in Canada (a more liberal and less religious society than the U.S.), a just-released poll shows that only 31 percent of Canadians now support redefining marriage to include same-sex couples.

When it comes to intensity of opinion, the politics of gay marriage favors its opponents even more heavily. ...

But for the Democrats there is even worse news: The emergence of gay marriage splits the Democratic base. According to the October Pew poll, voters who say they are inclined to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate over Bush (the so-called "generic" presidential poll) split evenly over the gay-marriage issue, with 48 percent opposing and 46 percent favoring. When it comes to intensity, the gap is even wider: Just 14 percent of likely Democratic voters strongly favor same-sex marriage, while 25 percent are strongly opposed.

Meanwhile, at least 60 percent of African Americans oppose same-sex marriage. Many say they feel viscerally betrayed at the transfer of the civil-rights mantle to further this cause. ...

Almost all Democratic presidential candidates say they oppose gay marriage. But most say they are against any effort to stop courts from imposing gay marriage as well. ...

more
posted by Eve at 3:39 PM VOTE

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home