Support for gay marriage among African
Americans in Pennsylvania has increased 8 percentage points since
President Barack Obama announced two weeks ago that he supports such
unions.
According to a Public Policy Polling
survey taken last fall, only 34 percent of black voters in the state
favored gay marriage. Forty-two percent of respondents to a poll
taken this week said they approve of such unions.
A
similar poll in North Carolina found a 7 percent increase in support
among blacks.
“We've now found in both North
Carolina and Pennsylvania that black voters have moved more toward
support of gay marriage in the wake of Barack Obama's announcement,”
Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, said
in releasing the poll data. “The media's been asking the wrong
question – the big issues isn't how Obama's stance will affect his
reelection hopes. It's how Obama's stance will move public opinion
on gay marriage.”
Thirty-nine percent of Pennsylvania
voters now support equal marriage rights, while 48 percent remain
opposed, a 4 percent decrease from last fall. Only 28 percent of
respondents said there should be no legal recognition of a gay
couple's relationship.