A majority of Iowa Republican
caucus-goers support either marriage or civil unions for gay and
lesbian couples, a New
York Times/CBS NEWS poll found.
When pollsters asked, “Which comes
closest to your view? Gay couples should be allowed to legally marry
OR gay couples should be allowed to form civil unions but not legally
marry OR there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's
relationship?” twenty-two percent of respondents answered “marry,”
thirty-six percent “civil unions,” thirty-eight percent “no
legal recognition” and 3 percent refused to answer.
The survey of 642 people “who are
registered Republicans or Independents who said they were definitely
or probably going to attend the Republican Iowa Presidential caucus”
was conducted between November 30 and December 5.
A majority (67%) of respondents
identified as Republican and 31% percent as independents. Seventy
percent said they were married and only six percent said they had
divorced.
A large percentage of respondents (87%)
said they were religious (58% Protestant, 23% Catholic, 6% other).
The results arrive as GOP candidates
Rick
Perry, Michele
Bachmann and Rick
Santorum are increasing their anti-gay messages in an effort to
appeal to the two-thirds of Iowa voters who say they remain open to
changing their minds.
Gay marriage has been legal in Iowa
since 2009.