More Progress on Marriage Equality

Posted on May 18, 2012 at 1:30 pm by Bob Cesca

There’s a outdated notion floating around that African Americans are mostly opposed to same-sex marriage — or at least they’re more opposed than most Americans to a point where the president might lose some African American votes because of his support for marriage equality. But the latest polling doesn’t show that.

54 percent express a favorable view of his position on the issue in this poll – suggesting that, for some, allegiance to Obama may have prompted a rethink on the issue itself.

This up from 41 percent support in mid-2011. Simultaneously, here are the polls broader numbers on the issue:

All told, 46 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll express a favorable impression of Obama’s statement in an interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts last week that he personally has come to support gay marriage, while 47 percent respond unfavorably. That includes a 10-point tilt toward “strongly” negative rather than strongly positive views, 38 percent vs. 28 percent.

And there you go.

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  • stacib23

    I’ll say again, I hope you guys are right. The people that I’ve been talking to over this last week are really angry. FIRST, let me also state loud and clear, the majority of these people could care less about who sleeps with whom – the anger seems to stem from issues that are specific to individual groups: for the Mexicans I’ve talked to it’s the fact that Obama has done nothing on immigration while deporting record numbers of folks out of the country. For the Black people, it’s flippin’ guns and these urban terrorists we live with commonly called gang members. It’s the issue of pushing charter schools in our communities while the public school system is dying a slow death. Most of our kids will not go to these schools; they are stuck in a public education system that is being bled dry. If the president were going to put the election on the line (and that’s how many of us perceive it), then at what point is he going to address the things that are at the top of our list? Mr. Brink said last week that when the president helps the country he helps Black people, and I’ve made that argument myself to many people. I believe a lot of our patience has come from understanding that fact.

    I’ve eaten a lot of crow in the past few days for my unwavering support of the president over the last four years. People that have followed Obama a lot longer than I have are adamant that he is totally political and couldn’t give a rat’s ass about poor people. Last week was the first time I’ve felt that about him, and my disappointment was immediate and all consuming. There are huge consequences for the country with a Romney presidency and I know that, but right now I’m pacified with the fact that I live in Illinois which is safely Democratic and I can actually vote my conscience if I cannot reconcile myself with a vote for the president.

    Lastly, I wouldn’t count too much on polls. I don’t know anybody who has ever been polled on anything. It also seems to me that if polls were accurate then this issue would not have failed the 33 times it’s been put to a vote. Where are all of those polled people when it comes time to vote? I’m not saying we, as a country, should vote on the rights of others, but the fact remains that polls say one thing and the vote says another. I know the president has lost some votes for good; for the sake of the country maybe some of us can come around by November.

    • D_C_Wilson

      Your concern trolling is noted.

  • jjasonham

    This is an article about the results from the Amendment One vote in NC. Basically it’s looking at the results of the vote and shows that it’s basically Urban (more educated) vs Rural (less educated) instead of African Americans…like NOM makes a concerted effort for you to believe. Also, Stacib23, I’ve read your post about 3 times and I’m having a hard time understanding exactly what you’re saying. These random statements about doing “nothing” about this and that. Stating that “last week” you all of a sudden believed that Obama didn’t care about poor people because he’s political. When did the two become mutually exclusive? What ISSUE are you talking about?

  • Christine Mitchell

    No African Americans that I know are wavering in their support for Obama. Even if I disagreed with him on this, which I don’t, I’m not going to change my vote on one issue. There is much more at stake than same sex marriage. At any rate, it’s only his opinion. He doesn’t have any power to change marriage laws anyway. Look at all of the people who keep voting for Republicans because of their anti-abortion stances…and we still have abortion. I like the way he’s handling the economy and if we can get some more Dems in congress in this election, maybe we can actually make some progress in the next 4 years.

    • http://profile.yahoo.com/TSQ4CFNTZLIIMLIDNGVII2K4HY Plunket

      I live in a rather special world, too, Christine. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken.