Supporters of a gay marriage ban in
Minnesota believe that forty percent of Democrats will vote for the
amendment.
Voters in November will decide whether
to place the state's law which bans gay nuptials in the Minnesota
Constitution.
Chuck Darrell, spokesman for Minnesota
for Marriage, the group campaigning for passage of the amendment,
told the Bemidji
Pioneer that he expects nearly half of
Democratic-Farmer-Laborites (DFL) to vote for the amendment.
“We are counting on 40 percent of the
DFL vote here in Minnesota to vote for the marriage amendment, and
similar numbers within the minority communities,” he said.
Darrell noted that 36 percent of
Democrats in 2008 favored a similar constitutional amendment in
California, Proposition 8. He added that DFL efforts to increase the
turnout for President Barack Obama could also help drive up the
number of voters who favor the amendment.
“Support for the marriage amendment
crosses every kind of boundary you can imagine,” Darrell said.
At the same time, some Republicans, in
particular libertarian-minded voters, are increasingly speaking out
against the measure.
(Related: Minnesota
Democrats oppose gay marriage ban at state convention.)