Sixty percent supported the refusal of marriage licenses to gay couples.
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Three weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marry, Florida quietly gave notice Friday that it was dismissing an appeal in a legal battle about the constitutionality of the state’s voter-approved ban on gay marriage.
A total of 39 percent approved the supreme court’s ruling, while 41 percent said they were against it. (60% were in approval in May, and the 2% difference is not statistically significant.). The 42 percent in favor of same-sex marriage is lower than it was not only in April but also in January (44 percent) and October (46) when the same question was asked.
The poll found no jump in support for same-sex marriage since the court’s ruling June 26. Whereas in April 52% thought they should be accorded this option, the number was up to 59% in the recent poll. And 72 percent of Republicans but just 31 percent of Democrats said local officials with religious objections should be exempt from issuing marriage licenses. Republicans said the opposite, by 82-17.
The survey also shows support for protecting religious objections to same-sex marriage.
Reacting, Feuerstein said: “I remember telling you guys a long time ago that this was not about gay marriage and equality!….It’s about re-constitutionalising a term so that now it opens up the door for the liberals to come after Christianity!”
The appeals court in February put the Florida appeal on hold because of the then-pending U.S. Supreme Court case that involved gay-marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.
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What remains to be seen is whether this divide will contribute to moving the country forward or backward. People selected for KnowledgePanel who didn’t otherwise have access to the Internet were provided access at no cost to them.
