Iowa voters are split on whether to
oust three Iowa Supreme Court judges who ruled in favor of gay
marriage.
The
latest Des Moines Register poll finds that thirty-seven
percent of likely voters will vote to remove all three judges on
Tuesday. Thirty-four percent say they will vote to keep all three,
and 10 percent will vote against some of the judges.
The poll suggests that at least one of
the three justices up for a retention vote this year will be voted
off the bench. Retention of Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices
David Baker and Michael Streit will be on the ballot this year.
Social conservatives are furious at the
court's 2009 unanimous decision that brought gay marriage to the
Midwest and have mounted a campaign to ax the judges.
Sioux City businessman Bob Vander
Plaats is spearheading the campaign to remove the judges from the
bench. He launched the Iowa for Freedom campaign after losing the
Republican nomination for governor.
“This is about freedom,” Vander
Plaats told a crowd at a recent Taking Back America meeting in Cedar
Falls. “Marriage happens to be the issue.”
Christian-based groups the American
Family Association (AFA) and the Family Research Council (FRC) are
backing Vander Plaats' group.
Opponents of ousting the judges say the
move would politicize the court.