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Loading ...New Yorkers divided on gay marriage
05.27.2009 10:06am EDT
(New York City) A new poll has found New York State voters evenly divided over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.
The Siena College poll found 46 percent of those surveyed support gay marriage, while 46 percent were opposed.The survey was taken between May 18 and 21 and involved 622 registered voters. The poll has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.
The numbers suggest that opposition to gay marriage is growing.
A similar Siena poll taken last month found support at 53 percent, with only 39 percent opposing gay marriage in New York state.
That is a drop in support of nearly 10 percent over a month. The new figures suggest that opposition is growing among independent voters, younger voters, women and African-Americans.
In New York City alone, the drop was consistent with the decline in support in other areas of the state.
The newest Siena poll numbers are similar to a Quinnipiac University poll earlier this month that also found voters evenly split.
The Siena poll also found that Gov. David Paterson (D) continues to have low job approval ratings. Only 27 percent of voters said he was doing a good job.
Earlier this month, the Assembly passed marriage equality legislation backed by the governor.
In the Senate, where Democrats have a razor thin majority, several Democratic senators refused to back the bill and no vote has been scheduled.
The legislature is set to adjourn in a week.
In 2006, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled that same-sex couples do not have a constitutional right to marry. It said that the issue, however, could be taken up by the legislature.
Last May, while the legislature dithered over gay marriage, Paterson issued an executive order recognizing the marriages of all New York same-sex couples who were married in areas where they are legal.
Since then, a large number of New Yorkers have crossed the state line to marry. Same-sex marriage is legal in nearby states – Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine – and in Canada. In New Hampshire, the governor and the legislature are feuding over the language of marriage equality legislation. Same-sex marriage also is legal in Iowa.
Bottom line: let’s learn from CA and and get our butts out there and rally for support.
Poll, poll, pool…these are statistical representations of uncertainty.
Stop relying on polls…mention you are gay/lesbian/transgender/etc. to everyone you meet and the impact negative initiatives and lack of equality has on you. That is more effective than running a stupid poll.
It looks to me like the polling is flawed. You don’t get this large a shift that quickly in a scientifically-solid survey.
Siena is a Catholic-funded/based college, isn’t it? Not surprising that its numbers would come out skewed the way they have. You have to wonder who the people they polled are….
If this is even accurate, the swing is probably just the people in our society that don’t like “controversy”. Because it’s in the news now in NY it seems “controversial” so they just say “no” hoping the “controversy” and icky, uncomfortable feelings it causes go away. It’ll swing back up as soon as it dies down and they become numb to it again. If it’s true, it’s temporary.
There hasn’t been a ten-point drop in support–these polls are always all over the place. All-in-all, it’s probably about 50/50 in New York, maybe a slight majority.
I think they need to have a different poll taker like that of Quinnipiac University take the poll. QU is often used for running polls and polling data and often mentioned in the media when polling sampling and results are mentioned.
Maybe the sampling of poll participants or questions used not done quite right and not giving accurate results? Another well know poll-taker like Quinipiac should be used to check a second result against the first. After all we are talking about a northeastern state bordering on New England and Canada and not in the deep south.
Could the Mormon bishop’s efforts put his church’s tax exempt status in jeopardy?
Why don’t they do something novel – like pass marriage equality because it is the RIGHT thing to do – instead of worrying if the polls indicate whether they should or not.
Politics in this country is such a sad joke.
A 10% change in only one month?? I’d question the validity of one or both surveys before reacting to the survey results.
Sen. Leach introducing gay marriage bill in PA:
http://tinyurl.com/o4675m