A new survey finds a majority of North
Carolina voters support a proposed constitutional amendment banning
gay marriage.
Voters in May will decided on a
far-reaching amendment that would make it unconstitutional for North
Carolina to recognize gay and lesbian couples with marriage, civil
unions and possibly even domestic partnerships.
The Public Policy Polling survey of 760
voters found 61 percent of respondents in favor of the ban and 34
opposed.
When broken down along political
affiliations, majorities exist among Republicans (80/17) and
independents (52/43). Democrats narrowly favor the ban, 49 percent
to 44.
However, a narrow majority (51%) of
respondents support either giving gay couples full marriage rights
(22%) or civil unions (29%).
“The problem for those trying to
defeat the amendment is that 37% of voters who support gay marriage
or civil unions are still planning to vote for it,” said PPP's
Tom Jensen. “That suggests a lot of folks aren't familiar with
how wide reaching the proposed amendment would be and it gives those
fighting it a chance – they just have to get their message out
effectively to the majority of North Carolinians who do support legal
recognition for gay couples that the proposal goes too far.”
(Related: North
Carolina's Beverly Perdue to vote against gay marriage ban.)