How do Raleigh voters feel about gay rights and same-sex marriage? From Public Policy Polling, Dean Debnam’s firm, we have these poll results:
Question: Do you favor amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriages in every state?
Answer: No. 60 percent opposed, 30 percent in favor.
Question: Do you favor equal rights for gays?
Answer: Yes. 62 percent favor, 30 percent opposed.
On both questions, Republican voters were in the minority, with slightly more than half the GOP in favor of amending the Constitution and opposed to equal rights. But Democrats were overwhelmingly on the other side, by about 4-to-1 in each case. Independents were on the other side too; by 3-to-1, they were pro-gay rights and anti-amendment.
Asked how gay couples should be recognized by law, 34 percent of all voters would let gays get married; 24 percent would create a category of civil unions; 39 percent would not recognize them.
The polls were automated, with questions phoned to frequent voters (meaning they voted at least once in the last four years, or in 25 percent of elections going back 12 years) who were chosen at random from Wake County’s voter registration list. There were 400 responses, and the margin of error is about 3.5 percent.
