July 18th, 2008
The first California statewide poll to directly measure public opinion about Proposition 8 - the so-called California Marriage Protection (CaMP) Act, a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban marriage equality - suggests the ballot measure is in serious trouble.
As reported at ProtectMarriageEquality.com, a Field Poll commissioned by Oakland’s KTVU-TV found that the marriage ban is supported by only 42% of Californians, while 51% oppose it. The poll numbers offer a double dose of hope for supporters of marriage equality. Not only do the data indicate that the ballot proposition is currently losing outright, they also suggest that its prospects for gaining support during the coming months may be dim.
It is common wisdom in California politics that controversial ballot measures typically lose support during the course of election campaigns. Thus, an initiative with less than majority support at this stage faces serious obstacles to passage.
Nevertheless, it would be a mistake for California marriage equality supporters to be become complacent in response to the poll results.
In my latest post at Beyond Homophobia, I discuss the poll data and their implications for the Proposition 8 campaign.
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adam kautz
July 18th, 2008
This is all the more reason that we should push even harder to get even more people to understand the evil this amendment represents. I would like to see this november a super majority vote against it by a margin of 60+ to make it abundantly clear that the only ones who support these amendments are the right-wing evangelical christians.
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