Minnesota Marriage Amendment Holds Slight Lead in Poll
As more states will be voting on constitutional amendments defining marriage, polling indicates that most Minnesotans support the proposed amendment for their state.
According to a poll taken by Public Policy Polling reported on Jan. 27, 48 percent of Minnesotans polled support the amendment that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman, while 44 percent oppose.
"These numbers are consistent with other polls we've seen, which simply show that Minnesota is deeply divided on this issue," said Richard Carlbom, campaign manager for the anti-amendment group Minnesotans United for All Families, commented to The Christian Post.
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"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."
News of the poll comes as the pro-amendment organization Minnesotans for Marriage reports increased support for their group.
The group reported on its website that it raised $830,000 and gathered over 10,000 new supporters in 2011 for the amendment that would protect traditional marriage.
"We have demonstrated substantial and broad-based support for preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman," said John Helmberger, MFM chairman, in a statement.
"Not only have we generated a great deal of financial support for the campaign, we have generated incredible, broad-based citizen support by recruiting over 10,000 volunteers for our campaign. We're off to a great start."
Carlbom also mentioned a broad base of support for the anti-amendment side, telling CP that "our coalition is composed of over 150 organizations who recognize the unnecessary, freedom-limiting nature of this amendment, and includes multiple faith organizations."
As of January 2012, six states and the District of Columbia have legalized same-sex marriage. None of them, however, did so through popular referendum. Thirty states have passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage. Of all ballot initiatives launched, only Arizona's population backed the pro-same-sex marriage side in 2006 by voting down a proposition that would have banned same-sex marriage. However, two years later Arizonans again went to the polls and voted in favor of a nearly identical proposition.
The Minnesota poll was conducted from Jan. 21 to 22 and surveyed over 1,200 voters. Another PPP poll, this time asking North Carolina voters of their opinion of their state's proposed marriage amendment, found 56 percent in favor and 34 percent opposed.
Minnesotans for Marriage could not be reached by press time.
