Growing Support for Maryland Marriage Equality
New poll shows majority back same-sex marriage, rising support from African-Americans, increasing intensity among marriage-equality advocates
A majority of Marylanders say they would vote to uphold Maryland’s recently passed marriage-equality law, according to a new poll. Currently, supporters of the law have a double-digit edge over opponents, with 54 percent saying they’d vote in favor of the law to 40 percent saying they’d vote against it.
Supporters of marriage equality also hold an eight-point edge in terms of intensity, with 43 percent of voters saying they ”strongly” support marriage equality and 35 percent ”strongly” opposing it. In March, ”strong” sentiment was evenly divided, with 39 percent strongly for and 38 percent strongly against. Among voters who say the upcoming referendum on the law is ”extremely important,” 66 percent say they would vote for the marriage-equality law and 33 percent say they would vote against it.
White voters favor the marriage-equality law by 13 points, with 54 percent supporting it and 41 percent opposed, up from a 53-42 margin in March. African-Americans are evenly divided, with 44 percent in favor and 45 percent opposed. That marks an increase from a March poll, when only 40 percent of African-Americans supported the marriage-equality law and 49 percent were opposed to it.
The poll of 504 voters was conducted by Hart Research between July 24 and 28, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
”We continue to have the momentum,” Josh Levin, campaign manager for Marylanders for Marriage Equality, said in a statement. ”Voters are having conversations on marriage around the dinner table and are agreeing that peoples should be treated fairly.”
”We’re winning over undecided and the intensity is clearly on our side,” Levin continued. ”Voters are realizing that this law is about treating our gay friends, family and neighbors equally under the law, and that no religious institution would be forced to marry anyone they objected to.”
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