POLL: NC Voters Favor (AND Are Confused By) Amendment 1

Hmm! Interesting polling news out of North Carolina, which faces an anti-gay ballot measure on its May 8th primary election. The measure is called Amendment 1, and if passed by voters it would prohibit statewide recognition of marriages between same-sex couples and domestic partnerships between any two people (only marriages between a man and a woman would be the legally accepted "domestic legal union" in the state.) Despite President Barack Obama's explicit opposition to Amendment 1, a recent poll from PPP shows that when asked by a pollster, 58% of voters say they intend to vote YES on the Amendment, while only 38% are opposed to it. These are very depressing numbers, but the explanation is that most North Carolina voters do not understand the overreaching breadth and devastating impact of the amendment on many North Carolina families.

When told that the measure would ban both gay marriage and civil unions the results are 41% Yes, 42% No with 17% unsure. These are better numbers, but still not great. Happily,the election is more than a month away so there is a lot of time to educate North Carolina primary voters about exactly what Amendment One would do to families all around the state if it were enacted.