A ballot question that would repeal a
gay marriage law in Iowa would narrowly fail, a new poll released
Sunday found.
The
Des Moines Register asked 800 adults how they would vote on a
proposed amendment to the Iowa Constitution that would define
marriage as a heterosexual union, thereby reversing the 2009 Iowa
Supreme Court ruling that brought the institution to the Midwest.
Thirty-eight percent of respondents
said they would vote against the question, while 35 percent favored
amending the constitution, and 27 percent said they wouldn't even
vote. That's a 6 percent drop in support for the proposed amendment
since an earlier poll conducted in September.
“You just have this spider web of
mixed-up attitudes on this,” said J. Ann Selzer, the poll's
director. “The rhetoric is so polarizing that you forget there's a
middle on this and it's probably the middle that would make the
difference.”
The GOP-led House approved the measure
earlier this month with a 62 to 37 vote that fell mostly along party
lines.
Passage in the Senate seems less
likely. Senate
Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, a Democrat, has vowed to keep the
resolution from reaching the chamber's floor for a vote.
Before voters could decide to amend the
constitution, lawmakers must approve the measure in two consecutive
legislative sessions. The earliest that could happen is in 2013.
Polling
in New Hampshire shows a similar repeal effort failing.