This is great news from Public Policy Polling:
It looks like Maine voters will reverse their 2009 decision and legalize gay marriage in the state this fall. 54% think that gay marriage should be legal to only 41% who think it should be illegal. And when we asked about the issue using the exact language voters will see on the ballot this fall, they say they’re inclined to support the referendum by a 47-32 margin.
Joe screen capped the graphic:
One of the Religious Right’s favorite talking points against marriage equality is that “in 31 out of 31 states, voters have rejected same sex marriage when it’s put to a vote blah blah blah.” It looks like that talking point will soon die for them, in Maine and also in Washington state if their marriage law is put to a referendum. It’s always nice when Religious Right talking points die.
Hopefully they have become immune to both the Portland Archdiocese and NOM telling them that gays are a threat to children.
In 2009, Frank Schubert claimed that Maine’s Question 1 “broke the back of the homosexual marriage movement.” We have since proved Schubert very wrong. Now I hope that we can right a wrong.
Hate to burst your bubble but they won’t overturn it. This is just about the same margin that “thought” same-sex marriage should be legal in California and they banned it.
Here in California, the summer before Prop. 8 was on the ballot, 54% were against it. Once evil anti-gay pressure groups began running dishonest commercials saying that homosexuality would be “taught” in schools, that number fell and we lost. Those exact same commercials were run in Maine in 2009 and we lost. Those same commercials will be run again. Until we have a way to overcome those commercials (and as of this minute, we don’t) we won’t win.
These polls mean nothing, once Maine anti-equality folks start up with their “Will somebody please think about the children” meme chances are it’ll play out the same w way Prop 8 did.
The gap will certainly be narrowed through negative ads and the vote total will be incredibly close.
The numbers are not good enough. Compare the first question to the second: as soon as religion is brought in the pro-marriage numbers fall from 54% to 47% and the “not sure” number inflates. I’d rather see one of these referenda successfully resisted before revisiting a loss.
It is worth a shot…but, we should remember, hate is a POWERFUL emotion. Think about it; the people we hate, we will go to great lenghts to hurt/humiliate/defeat. This is just human nature…maybe not pretty, but true. I am the first to admit that this is the case for me.
“Yeah…yeah…I think gay people should be able to marry” said by a nice woman talking about it to friends over coffee or listening to the radio is a good sign for us.
But, it does not compare to a bitter, angry, loder lady who is just SURE that her grandson is going to be taught the finer points of gay sex in the schools (some of the worst bigots say that gay marriage will lead to graphic gay sex ed in public, or as they call them, ‘government’ schools) and that approving equal rights will lead to God damning the whole nation…such a person will crawl on their hands and knees to the polling booth tp vote aginst us while the nice lady I described earlier is to busy getting the dry cleaning and picking the kids up from soccer practice to get to the polls before they close.
We need way more than 54 % favorable to be so confident of victory. These people hate and fear us, and hate and fear are very powerful emotions.
Great post Gene. I see this hate on the HuffPost GLBT threads every day. I would like to think that Maine would be the first to right the wrong of banning same-sex couples from legal marriage, but I doubt it.