Poll: Support for Minn. Marriage Amendment Has Significant Lead
A recently released poll on a proposed amendment that would define marriage as between one man and one woman in Minnesota found a significantly higher percentage of supporters for the measure than opponents.
According to the SurveyUSA poll, 52 percent of respondents stated that they supported the marriage amendment, while 37 percent said they oppose.
Chuck Darrell, a spokesman for the pro-amendment group Minnesotans for Marriage, told The Christian Post that the SurveyUSA poll was consistent with his group's findings.
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"The poll is consistent with our own internal polling that shows consistent support for passage of the marriage amendment in the mid-50's," said Darrell.
"It also shows the amendment attracted 38 percent of Democratic voters while maintain overwhelming support from Republicans, which is consistent with our polling and results in other states. We are also pleased to see that Independent voters supported the measure by a 48 percent to 42 percent margin."
The SurveyUSA poll was conducted from Tuesday, July 17 to Thursday, July 19 and the sample space was 552 likely voters.
Minnesota's referendum on a constitutional marriage amendment is set to be voted on in November. Earlier this year, the Public Policy Polling found that public opinion on the amendment was more evenly divided, with 48 percent supporting it and 44 percent opposing it.
In an earlier interview with CP regarding the PPP's findings, Richard Carlbom of the anti-amendment group Minnesotans United for All Families found that poll as proof that Minnesota was "divided" on the issue.
"These numbers are consistent with other polls we've seen, which simply show that Minnesota is deeply divided on this issue," said Carlbom.
"The number of Minnesotans supporting and opposing this amendment is within the margin of error. Minnesotans know and believe that marriage is about the love and commitment that two people share."
Darrell, however, believes that the SurveyUSA poll is more accurate than the PPP poll taken in January, telling CP that PPP has a political bias.
"Public Policy Polling is a prominent Democratic polling company that recently stated that they don't believe polls showing majority support for gay marriage 'because any time there's a vote it doesn't back it up,'" said Darrell.
"However, the SurveyUSA poll was straightforward and dealt specifically with whether the constitution should be amended to provide that marriage is the union of one man and one woman."
Minnesota's referendum is one of many ballot initiatives taking place later this year across the country regarding same-sex marriage.
Maryland voters will decide by public referendum whether or not that state's recently passed same-sex marriage legalization bill shall remain and Maine voters will vote on a ballot initiative to legalize same-sex marriage.
Minnesotans United for All Families did not return a request for comment by press time.
