A majority of North Carolina voters oppose a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban the state from recognizing gay and legal couples with marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships.

According to a Public Policy Polling survey released on Wednesday, 55 percent of respondents would vote against the proposed amendment, 30 percent would vote for it, and 15 percent said they were not sure.

Lawmakers on Monday will return to Raleigh to debate whether to send the amendment to the voters next year. A version sponsored in the House would define marriage as a heterosexual union, leaving the door open for other forms of recognition for gay couples. A stronger proposal in the Senate seeks to ban gay couples from marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships.

Other questions in the survey suggest voters would approve the amendment if the House's version is adopted.

A majority of voters (61%) said gay marriage should be illegal, while 31 percent said such unions should be legal, and 8 percent refused to answer the question.

But a majority (54%) of respondents said gay couples should be allowed to marry (25%) or form a civil union (29%). Forty-three percent said there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple's relationship.

(Related: Singer Chely Wright joins rally against North Carolina's proposed gay marriage ban.)