Poll: Marriage amendment a dead heat, but opposition has increased

Published 9:33am Thursday, October 18, 2012

If the election were today, would you vote for the constitutional amendment to define marriage as between one man and one woman?

  • I would vote no on defining marriage as between one man and one woman. (58%, 240 Votes)
  • I would vote yes on defining marriage as between one man and one woman. (41%, 171 Votes)
  • I wouldn't vote (1%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 414

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By Tad Vezner

St. Paul Pioneer Press

A KSTP/SurveyUSA poll released Wednesday regarding the proposed Minnesota marriage amendment showed a dead heat on the question.

According to the poll, 47 percent of those surveyed said they favored the amendment and 46 opposed it. The difference is well within the poll’s margin of error, which was 4.3 percent, according to KSTP. Seven percent of those polled said they were undecided.

Neither KSTP nor SurveyUSA released the methodology of the latest poll Wednesday, though a SurveyUSA survey on the amendment in September was a telephone poll — of both cellphones and residential phones — of 700 Minnesotans.

The results of that poll favored the amendment, with 50 percent in favor and 43 percent opposed, according to SurveyUSA’s website.

Those favoring the amendment say they wish to amend the state constitution to define marriage as between only a man and a woman. That definition already exists in state statutes, but opponents of same-sex marriage want to prevent the law from being undone by the courts or legislators.

Constitutional amendments must surpass 50 percent of all ballots cast to be approved.

—Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune News


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  • truth be told

    I do not understand the opposition to equality. This is a fundamental, bedrock American value, to treat all citizens equally before the law.

    How other people’s marriages ‘affect’ anyone else’s is a mystery.

    Straight people lose nothing – no rights, no freedoms, no obligations or responsibilities – if another small minority get equal treatment. I just do not understand it.

    I miss the days when “Liberty and Justice were for ALL”, when the rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness were inalienable, instead of subjected to a popular vote.

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    • leftthehatebehind

      Well said. As the commercial said, “Our Constitution should protect our freedoms, not take them away.”

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  • austin185

    Personally i could care less who marry’s who, It is funny though. That the group or groups advertising rights,liberty,justice and freedoms are the same group that wants the 2nd ammendment removed. Lol….

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