With seven weeks to go before the
general election, gay marriage in Maine is looking less certain.
While a poll conducted in July left
supporters feeling buoyant, a survey released on Thursday brought
them back down to Earth.
In the first poll commissioned by the
Portland Press Herald, 57 percent of Mainers said they support
legalizing gay marriage, while 35 percent were opposed.
Thursday's Public Policy Polling (PPP)
survey sucked all the air out of the room by giving the referendum a
much narrower lead.
According to the poll, 52 percent of
voters say they plan on voting yes on Question 1, while 44 percent
say they are opposed.
“Our experience in polling these
kinds of issues is that undecided usually means no so this really
should be seen as a toss up with gay marriage supporters barely over
the 50% mark – there's not a lot of room for error in the final
seven weeks,” PPP's Tom Jensen wrote in announcing the
poll's results.
Voters under 65 widely support the
proposal (56% in favor, 41% opposed), but those over 65 oppose it
(53% opposed, 41% in favor).