Poll: Prop. 8 Divides Religious Latino Community in Calif.

By Jennifer Riley, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, July 22, 2010

The Latino community in California is sharply divided along Catholic-Protestant lines when it comes to Proposition 8, a new poll finds.

A majority of Latino Catholics, 57 percent, say they would vote to allow same-sex marriage in their state of California, according to the poll released Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute. In contrast, only 22 percent of Latino Protestants say they support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.

The Latino population makes up 36.6 percent of California's population, according to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau statistics.

Most of the Latino Catholic and white mainline Protestant population in California support same-sex marriage in California. Meanwhile, the majorities of white evangelical Protestants, Latino Protestants, and African-American Protestants say they would vote to retain the ban on same-sex marriage in California.

Overall, the PRRI poll – purposely released before U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker is expected to decide whether Prop. 8 violates the U.S. Constitution – finds that more Californians believe Prop. 8 was bad for the state (29 percent) than good for California (22 percent).

Nearly half of the state's population (45 percent) says Prop. 8 made no difference.

"Our research shows a significant percentage of Californians, including people of faith across the California religious landscape, say they have become increasingly supportive of gay rights over the last five years," said Dr. Robert Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute, in a statement.

Prop. 8 is an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. It was passed by 52 percent of California voters in November 2008.

PRRI finds that if a similar Prop. 8 vote was held tomorrow, a slight majority (51 percent) of Californians say they would vote to allow same-sex marriage, compared to 45 percent who say they would vote to keep it illegal.

Californians who hear negative messages from their clergy about same-sex marriage are less likely to support the union (19 percent support), the poll finds. In contrast, Californians who hear positive messages from their clergy about same-sex marriage are much more likely to support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry (six-in-ten).

"Although it should come as no surprise, our research confirms clergy and religious groups continue to play an influential role in policy debates about the rights of gay and lesbian people," said Daniel Cox, director of research for PRRI.

Cox pointed out that one of the most interesting findings in the survey is the significant number of people who said they would support marriage if the law offers religious liberty reassurance that no congregation would be forced to perform same-sex marriages if it is opposed to the idea.

The bilingual poll (Spanish and English) was conducted on 3,351 adults in California, between June 14 and June 30, 2010, and included oversamples of 350 African-Americans and 200 Latino Protestants. The PRRI poll represents the most comprehensive portrait of religion and attitudes on same-sex marriage and gay and lesbian issues since Prop. 8 was approved two years ago.