Poll Shows a Majority of North Carolinians Oppose Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage

The poll also showed a strong majority (57%) of North Carolinians support marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples, revealing a dramatic 9% increase in public support for marriage equality in only two years. This result mirrors two separate polls conducted by Public Policy Polling in March and July that also reveal majority support of legal recognitions for same-sex couples.

“Over the past year, Equality North Carolina has had thousands of conversations with citizens from across the state of every age, race and background who oppose this discriminatory legislation and the harm it would cause to LGBT North Carolinans, our economy and our state’s reputation,” said Alex Miller, interim executive director at Equality NC. “These polls reflect these findings and track with national data that suggests the appetite for constitutional bans of same-sex marriage is waning. When our legislators push this anti-gay marriage amendment, they do so without the approval of the majority of the citizens of our state. ”

The unbiased Elon polling data aligns with two additional North Carolina polls from Public Policy Polling and six national polls released in 2011, while also countering recent assertions from anti-gay amendment supporters like the N.C. Values Coalition’s Tami Fitzgerald, who have pointed to a single poll from the conservative Civitas Institute in Raleigh, which says “a large majority” of North Carolina voters support holding a vote to rewrite the state constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. However, the right-wing think tank’s poll uses misleading language to falsely inflate support for Senate Bill 106, the most extreme version of two proposed bills being considered.

By its wording, Civitas carefully avoids telling voters that this type of revision to the state's founding document would also ban civil union and domestic partnerships, legal recognitions which most North Carolina voters surveyed by Elon University and Public Policy Polling do support.

In fact, the Civitas query purposefully leaves out many of the amendment's most apparent harms, including:

• not only banning marriage to same-sex couples, as state statute already does, but also prohibiting any other form of relationship recognition, such as civil unions or domestic partnerships.
  
• stripping public benefits for same-sex partners of city and county employees and potentially jeopardizing private benefits such as health insurance for same-sex couples, unmarried opposite-sex couples, and their children; and
  
• removing even the most basic protections currently available to same-sex couples, as well as challenging private contracts between these couples.

This strategy of “omission” was exposed in recent online post by the North Carolina affiliate of the anti-LGBT group Concerned Women for America (CWA), whose legislative liaison, Mary Frances Forrester (wife of long-time anti-LGBT amendment primary sponsor, Sen. James Forrester), warned supporters of certain language to avoid “at all costs,” including the phrase, "ban same-sex marriage", despite the act that banning same-sex marriage is precisely what HB777 would do, and SB 106 would go even further by also banning civil unions and domestic partnerships, including those between unmarried heterosexual couples. Mrs. Forrester wrote, “(Saying ‘ban same-sex marriage’) causes us to lose about ten percentage points in polls. Don't use it. Say we're against ‘redefining marriage’ or in favor of ‘marriage as the union of husband and wife’ NEVER ‘banning same-sex marriage.’"

“Obviously, when you actually tell the truth about this discriminatory legislation, a majority of fair-minded North Carolinians will respond in opposition to writing this type of bigotry directly into our state’s founding document. Those pushing this assault on a minority of our citizens are deliberately misleading the public about their intent,” said Miller.

The Elon polling also contravenes recent assertions by the Christian Action League, one of only ten state affiliates of the certified hate group, American Family Association, which recently released data from the Civitas Institute claiming “strong support” for an anti-LGBT amendment by North Carolina’s African-American voters.

The Elon poll reveals that, in reality, 61% of African-American North Carolinians oppose or strongly oppose an amendment that would ban same-sex marriage (with only 39% in support). The Elon poll also showed that a strong majority (58.4%) of the state’s African American population actually supports some form of legal relationship recognition for same-sex couples (“marriages or civil unions.”)

These results show that African-Americans living in the Tar Heel State join their fellow North Carolinians in opposing a proposed constitutional ban of same-sex marriage, much less an amendment that would also outlaw civil unions and strip families of domestic partnership benefits, as does the Senate version of the amendment currently being considered by the state legislature.

The Elon poll also demonstrated strong opposition to the amendment across all generational lines as well. The poll found that 70.9% of 18-24 year-olds, 65.4% of 25-34 year-olds, 55.7% of 35-44 year-olds, 51.7% of 45-54, 58.4% of 55-64 year-olds, and 60% of 65 and older, oppose or strongly oppose legislators approving a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages.

This broad opposition to the amendment directly contravenes recent statements made during an August 30, press conference in which House Majority Leader Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam and House Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Dale Folwell claimed that the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage has “strong support across geographic, racial and generational lines.” Unbiased, nonpartisan polling shows exactly the opposite is true.

"It is despicable that anti-gay forces would attempt to mislead lawmakers and divide North Carolinians with these false assertions and half-truths,” added Miller. “The type of environment created by this amendment, of ‘hate at all costs,’ is just a taste of what’s to come if lawmakers succeed in perpetuating a divisive 14-month ballot campaign that will only hurt families, business, and the perception of our state as a welcoming place for all.”