Support for gay marriage rises among California voters, poll finds

An accelerating shift is under way among California voters on gay marriage, with 59 percent now in favor of allowing it, a new Field Poll suggests. That's up from 49 percent in 2009. 

|
Ann Hermes / The Christian Science Monitor
Same sex couples wait in line for a marriage license early Sunday morning in front of the Manhattan Office of the City Clerk in July, 2011.

Registered voters in California approve of same-sex marriage by the biggest margin in 35 years of tracking, with 59 percent favoring full marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, according to a Field Poll released Wednesday.

The poll suggests a significant and accelerating shift is under way among the state’s voters concerning one of the most divisive social issues in the country.

Gay rights activists point to the results as a harbinger of victories to come.

“With 59 percent of Californians now in favor of marriage equality, including nearly half of those over 60, the writing is on the wall,” said Rick Jacobs, founder of the gay rights group Courage Campaign.

The survey asked voters if they approved or disapproved of California allowing homosexuals to marry members of their own sex and have regular marriage laws apply to them. Thirty-four percent of respondents said they disapproved, while 59 percent said they approved. Seven percent expressed no opinion.

The California-based Field Research Corp. has been polling the gay marriage issue since 1977. That year the poll results showed 28 percent of California voters approving gay marriage and 59 percent opposed.

The 2012 results show the lowest disapproval rating and highest approval rating since the polls began.

“This division of sentiment is nearly a complete reversal of the findings from the first time The Field Poll began measuring Californians’ attitudes toward same-sex marriage,” the poll report says. The survey of 1,003 registered California voters was conducted between Feb. 2 and 18. It has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points. 

The polling firm also asked voters to select one of three preferences on same-sex relationships. The options were to allow same-sex couples to marry; to allow civil unions only; and to bar any legal recognition.

When the options were first offered in 2006, 36 percent of respondents expressed a preference to allow same-sex marriage. This year, 51 percent chose that option.

In addition, 29 percent favored civil unions, and 15 percent would allow no legal recognition. Five percent of those surveyed expressed no opinion.

The results come as California remains embroiled in court battles over the state’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage. Both a federal judge and a federal appeals court panel have declared the Prop. 8 ban unconstitutional.

The full Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is slated to take up the case.

In addition, a federal judge in San Francisco recently invalidated a portion of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which bars married couples who are gay or lesbians from receiving the same federal benefits as opposite-sex married couples.

That decision is being appealed to a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit.

Historic data from the Field Poll show a critical shift in California public opinion on gay marriage between 2006 and 2008. During that period, approval jumped from 44 percent to 51 percent – breaking 50 percent approval for the first time.

Despite the poll results, California voters approved Proposition 8 in November 2008 by a vote of 52 percent to 48 percent. The ballot initiative amended the state constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between one man and one woman.

Seven million California voters approved the measure; 6.4 million voted against it.

The following year in 2009, the Field Poll recorded public sentiment on gay marriage with 49 percent supporting it and 44 percent opposed.

Mr. Jacobs says the increase in support for gay marriage is tied to the trial and appeals seeking to overturn Prop. 8.

“The public clearly believes that gay and lesbian couples are no different than their straight counterparts,” Jacobs said in a statement. “We love, have families and build community as do all caring people.”

The survey showed that even among groups with majorities opposed to gay marriage, the opposition is diminishing. In 2010, 66 percent of Republicans and 72 percent of conservatives said they opposed gay marriage. In 2012, 55 percent of Republicans and 63 percent of conservatives said they opposed gay marriage.

In 2010, Californians 65 and older opposed gay marriage 42 percent to 51 percent. In 2012, the same group split 45-45 on the issue.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Support for gay marriage rises among California voters, poll finds
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2012/0229/Support-for-gay-marriage-rises-among-California-voters-poll-finds
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe