President Barack Obama's gay marriage
nod appears to have stoked both supporters and opponents of equal
marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
Obama came out in favor of gay nuptials
the day after North Carolina voters approved a constitutional
amendment which defines marriage as a heterosexual union and bans the
state from recognizing gay couples with marriage, civil unions and
possibly domestic partnerships. The president made his historic
endorsement after years of signaling that he was “evolving” on
the issue.
According to a poll released Friday by
the Associated
Press-GfK, Obama's endorsement last month did little to shift
Americans' views on marriage equality.
Opposition to such unions dropped only
3 percent from a similar poll conducted last August, moving down from
45 to 42 percent. But support also fell, from 42 to 40 percent.
Approval of the president's handling of
gay marriage increased among respondents who identify as Democrat or
liberal. Last year, only 16 percent of Democrats approved. That
number increased to 41 percent in the new poll. Similarly, approval
among liberals increased from 28 to 48 percent.
The reversal is true on the right,
where Republicans and conservatives increasingly disapprove of the
president's handling of the issue. Disapproval increased 8 percent
among Republicans, from 45 to 53 percent, and 9 percent among
conservatives, from 43 to 52 percent.