Maine voters, by a slim margin, support
gay marriage, a new poll found.
The survey, released
Monday by Public Policy Polling, found 47 percent of voters in
Maine believe gay marriage should be legal, while 45 percent believe
it should be illegal, and 8 percent don't have an opinion.
The issue in Maine breaks down
political and generational lines.
Fifty percent of voters over the age of
65 oppose the institution, while 51 percent of young voters (under
30) support it.
“We're seeing this trend everywhere
we poll the issue,” the survey's authors wrote in announcing the
their results. “Public opinion has been pretty rapidly changing
over the last few decades, and eventually, as with every other civil
rights issue in the past, the tide will turn as the more socially
inclusive younger voters become the bulk of the electorate.”
Democrats surveyed are strongly in
favor (71%) of legalizing gay marriage, while 77 percent of
Republicans oppose it, and independents strongly support gay unions
(56%).
In 2009, Maine voters narrowly approved
Question 1, which repealed a gay marriage law approved by lawmakers.
The poll surveyed 1,247 Maine voters
from March 3 to 6.