Possible presidential candidate Mike
Huckabee said Monday that gay marriage won't play a pivotal role in
next year's election.
Appearing on CNN's New Day to
pitch his new book God,
Guns, Grits, and Gravy, the former Arkansas governor and Fox
News host was asked whether he feels that his opposition to marriage
equality places him “on the wrong side of history.”
In framing her question, host Alisyn
Camerota used polling data showing that a majority of Americans
support such unions.
“Well, when you say the wrong side of
history, let's just be reminded that there's been a relatively –
and I mean a very relative, brief history of same-sex marriage,”
Huckabee
answered. “The overwhelming history is the natural law
marriage, biblical marriage. So, I don't think there's a side of
history that's overwhelming at this point.”
“Well, it's the trend line,”
Camerota said.
“I think the next presidential
election is not going to center on a view of same-sex marriage,” he
said. “It's going to come down to who has a plan to make sure that
the stagnant wages for the bottom 90 percent of Americans – for the
past 40 years – will be reversed, and we'll start seeing families
earning money again.”
“I don't care whether people are
straight or gay,” he added. “They want to be able to know that
they have a real chance to live the American dream, which they can't
as long as the economy keeps its boot on their face.”
Huckabee has previously chided
Republican governors who “surrendered” to court rulings
declaring restrictive marriage bans unconstitutional and claimed that
gay couples marrying will unleash God's
judgment on the United States.
(Related: “Horse
Apples!”: Mike Huckabee lashes out at GOP over gay marriage.)