Minnesota voters are divided on a
proposed amendment which would ban gay marriage in the state.
According to a Public Policy Polling
survey of 824 likely voters conducted on September 10 and 11, 48
percent of voters favor the amendment, while 47 percent remain
opposed.
“It looks like Minnesota's marriage
amendment will go down to the wire,” Dean Debnam, president of
Public Policy Polling, said in releasing
the poll. “Voters in the state are very closely divided in
their attitudes about it.”
A majority of Democrats and voters
under 45 oppose the ban – 78% and 50%, respectively – but
Republicans (80%), independents (51%) and seniors (53%) support it.
Seventy-two percent of voters support
either marriage (40%) or civil unions (32%) for gay and lesbian
couples. Twenty-five percent say there should be no legal
recognition of a gay couple's relationship.
A
poll released earlier this week found greater support for the ban.
The survey commissioned by ABC affiliate KSTP and conducted by
SurveyUSA found 50 percent of Minnesotans favor passage of the
amendment, while 43 percent object.