A new Gallup Poll says a slight majority (54 percent) of American adults continues to say that same-sex relations are morally acceptable:
Public acceptance of gay/lesbian relations as morally acceptable grew slowly but steadily from 38% in 2002 to 56% in 2011 and is now holding at the majority level….
The 63% now saying gay relations should be legal nearly matches the record-high 64% of a year ago, which came after a long-term increase in support for legality from 32% in 1986.
That’s hardly the case in Georgia. A Landmark/RosettaStone poll of 600 likely voters, commissioned by Channel 2 Action News and released as the weekend began, shows that President Barack Obama’s personal endorsement of gay marriage is likely to harden support for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in Georgia.
Read the cross tabs here. The automated poll has an MOE of +/- 4 percent. A summary:
– Romney leads Obama, 51 to 40 percent in Georgia. Support largely falls along racial lines, with 80 percent of African-Americans — a level low enough to be worth a question or two — expressing support for Obama and 70 percent of white voters backing Romney.
– But among women voters, Romney’s lead shrinks to 47 to 44 percent – a statistical tie.
– 59 percent would oppose changing Georgia law (and presumably, the state constitution) to permit gay marriage. A plurality of black voters (41 percent) legalization, and a strong majority (71 percent) of white voters would oppose it.
– 55 percent of Obama supporters would favor legalizing gay marriage, and 88 percent of Mitt Romney supporters oppose it.
– 53 percent say they would be less likely to support Obama because of his endorsement of marriage equality; 29 percent said it would make them more likely. But here’s the figure singled out by Landmark’s Mark Rountree:
When voters who are undecided in the presidential election are isolated, 64 percent of these undecided voters say they are “less” likely to vote for Obama because of the issue, while just 8 percent are “more” likely.
Submit your arguments below and rate the opinions of others, from 1 to 5, by clicking on them:
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The Washington Times reports that House Republicans are quietly working with the campaign of presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney to fashion a unified approach to health care:
Hill Republicans said coordinating with Mr. Romney, who is the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, boosts the chances that the two sides can avoid clashing over one of the big issues of the fall campaign but it ups the chances that the House GOP will miss its self-imposed June deadline for rolling out its alternative to Mr. Obama’s blueprint.
“From the policy perspective, we can do all these great things, but if [Mr. Romney‘s] not on the same page with us, then that’s a recipe for political disaster,” Rep. Phil Gingrey, Georgia Republican and a medical doctor who sponsored the medical-malpractice reform the House passed in March, [said]. “So, clearly, there has to be some coordination on all of that.”
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As you can see by the sketchy invitation on the right, many details are to be worked for President Barack Obama’s June 26 visit to Atlanta. Word of the visit came over the weekend.
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The Forsyth News reports that the founder of a local tea party organization has announced that he’ll challenge state Sen. Jack Murphy, R-Cumming, in the July 31 primary:
“I didn’t like the things I saw and heard and I decided that I could do a better job and … represent the citizens of this county better,” Steve Voshall said….
“[Murphy] was in the position on the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee to have helped the [bank failure] situation and instead that didn’t happen,” he said. “I think the people in this county are seeing through that now,” he said.
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Andre Walker of Georgia Unfiltered has posted his legal reply to state Democratic political director Rashad Richey, who has sued Walker and another blogger for libel. It’s clear that Walker intends to argue that Richey is a public figure subject to comment and criticism.
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The AJC’s Politifact Georgia today takes a look at this statement made by Vice President Joe Biden when he was in Atlanta last week: “When we took office, let me remind you, there was virtually no international pressure on Iran.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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