According to analysis from the Cato
Institute, a “significant” number of Republicans voted for gay
marriage on November 6.
The report details voting patterns in
three of the four states where marriage equality was on the ballot.
(Washington state was not included because data from the state had
yet to be finalized.)
In Maryland, where voters upheld a
marriage law approved by lawmakers, Question 6 fared better than
President Barack Obama in 11 of the 18 counties that Mitt Romney
carried.
In Minnesota, where voters rejected an
effort to limit marriage to heterosexual couples, 47 towns around the
Twin Cities area opposed the measure, known as Amendment One, while
voting for Romney.
One example given is Scott County,
where Romney received 56.6 percent of the vote and Amendment One was
narrowly defeated.
Republicans also helped make Maine the
first state to legalize marriage equality at the ballot box.
The Bangor suburb of Hampden voted for
Question 1 and Romney.
Additional evidence can be found in
exit polls conducted by Fox News in each of the three states.
Between 21 – 25 percent of Republicans told the cable network that
they were breaking from the party on the issue of marriage equality.
Walter Olson, senior fellow at the Cato
Institute, conducted the analysis.
“A lot of Republicans crossed over
against the official position of the party to vote for Question 6 in
Maryland, to vote against Amendment One in Minnesota, same thing in
Maine,” Olson said on NPR's Talk
of the Nation. “And that made the difference.”