A small majority of California voters supports the right of gay couples to marry, but a much larger portion of voters opposes efforts to place the issue back on the ballot next year, a new Los Angeles Times/USC poll has found.
Overall, 51% of California voters favored marriage rights for same-sex couples and 43% were opposed. Strikingly, however, almost 60% of Californians did not want to revisit the issue in 2010, just one election cycle after it last hit the ballot.
Not surprisingly, same-sex-marriage views were sharply polarized by political party; 66% of Democrats thought it should be legal and 71% of Republicans opposed it.
Nonpartisan voters were less enthusiastic than Democrats but still backed it, 59% to 34%.
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In November 2008, Californians voted 52% to 48% to limit marriage rights to one man and one woman. Same-sex marriage advocates have been split over whether to push for a new vote next year or wait until 2012, when the presidential contest will draw more voters to the polls than would be expected to cast ballots in next year’s midterm elections.
Last week Maine became the 31st state where voters defeated the idea of gay marriage in a statewide vote.
Full story at the Los Angeles Times.
