Poll: Prop 8 Voting Driven By Religion, Not Race

SAN FRANCISCO — Voters' economic status and religious convictions played a greater role than race and age in determining whether they supported the Nov. 4 ballot measure outlawing same-sex marriage in California, a new poll shows.

The ban drew its strongest support from both evangelical Christians and voters who didn't attend college, according to results released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California.

Age and race, meanwhile, were not as strong factors as assumed. According to the poll, 56 percent of voters over age 55 and 57 percent of nonwhite voters cast a yes ballot for the gay marriage ban.

People who identified themselves as practicing Christians were highly likely to support the constitutional amendment, with 85 percent of evangelical Christians, 66 percent of Protestants and 60 percent of Roman Catholics favoring it.

The poll also showed that the measure got strong backing from voters who did not attend college (69 percent), voters who earned less than $40,000 a year (63 percent) and Latinos (61 percent).

The proposition, which passed with 52 percent of the vote, overturned the state Supreme Court's May decision legalizing gay marriage in California. The measure inserts language into the constitution limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

The poll found that, overall, 48 percent of voters oppose the idea of making gay marriage legal. Forty-seven percent support it, while 5 percent are undecided.

The results mirror previous PPIC polls from the last three years, suggesting that the $73 million spent for and against the measure did not do much to change public attitudes on allowing gay couples to wed, said survey director Mark Baldassare.

"At no point in time, before or after the election, did we have a majority of Californians saying they supported gay marriage," Baldassare said. "My takeaway from this is that until there is a major shift in public opinion one way or another, it's going to be another issue where voters are deeply divided."

Geoffrey Kors, executive director of the gay rights group Equality California, said the PPIC poll demonstrates that same-sex marriage advocates "need to make inroads in every category. If 2 percent of voters had voted differently, we would have had a different result," he said.

The poll was based on a phone survey of 2,003 California voters in the Nov. 4 election who were interviewed from Nov. 5-6. The sampling error was plus or minus 2 percentage points.

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On the Net:

The poll: http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i860

Comments

[Tanyars5]

It looks as if I am getting censored......I will write my comments another way......
I want to know where are the apologies to all black people who were demonized by racist white gays? The ones who called us out for being uneducated and being bigots. The white gay racists who were calling us out need to be called out by black people. The organizations they belong need to be called out. The display of hate by these people will not be forgotten by me. I can not speak for other blacks but at this time I would never vote for an organization that is inherently racist. I don't care what the cause. The cause they fight for doesn't include black people.

[StevenKeirstead]

I am sorry that you were insulted, and I am sorry if people made racial insults due to anger over Prop 8 and the way the media presented it. I am sorry if I posted something offensive on the KnowThyNeighbor.org blog. I was feeling betrayed.

Please forgive those of us who were angry at blacks who voted for Prop 8. We were shocked that a majority of Californian African American voters could not see the parallels between the oppression of Black people and the oppression of gay people. To us these parallels are clear, but a lot of people do not know the history of the criminalization and oppression of homosexuality very well. People like me and my husband were executed in Europe from the 4th to 19th century, thankfully things are better now.

I also would like to apologize for my ancestors who owned African slaves in New Amsterdam in the 17th century.

[113]

Is it any surprise that the most religious are often the least informed.

Until we have leadership that actively addresses the tyranny of the religious in this country, everyone, not just gays and lesbians, will have to deal with them, sadly.

[gaydm]

Pro-creation does not require one to have or use religion. Pro-creation does not require a marriage license to get the job done. All one really needs is a drivers license, moms Caddy's back seat, and a 6 pack of wine coolers. The only time religion may come in would be from the Oh GOD, OH JEEEZUS that felt good, (sigh} now lets go to Denny's and get something to eat, phase.
Gender has nothing at all to do with a civil marriage contract. Sexual activity is not required, to have a civil marriage contract. You MAY have sex after you acquire the license to live together, but that is not stipulated anywhere in the contract. To deny same gender couples the option of a civil marriage contract is illegal under gender discrimination law.

[christianmama4change]

Lets see - blacks make 11% of CA electorate, Latinos slightly higher and whites the majority of CA democrats - so what group again are you going to blame for Prop 8? Truth is most Obama voters were just as concerned about gay marriage as religious folks.

[chasmader]

If you are a Christian, as you claim to be, then you'd turning the other cheek.

I seem to remember that in Sunday School.

[Myshkin57]

Next week, I'll carve up the electorate another way to find some statistics on who to blame next.

[Tanyars5]

well next week these people will be blaming another group ...they really need to get a grip

[walleymr]

Duh, it was driven by homophobia ...

[Cesaria]

While against Prop 8, these studies should have been taken before the vote. It's fine to look at racial groups, to look at the economics and education but the gay community didn't do it's job in having coalitions that would withstand this vote. Looking back seems to be so much easier than actually putting in the work and have a firewall that's based on various racial groups, economics, religious faiths, etc. Pointing the finger, throwing names and anger isn't going to get the job done that should have been done before November 4th.

[ImpalaSuperSport]

Reality - Public Policy Institute of California - http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=860

Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban that voters approved, drew support from evangelical Christians, Republicans, Latinos, voters without a college degree, and those aged 55 and older.

[rollingdivision]

Citizens across all demographic groups have spoken.

[Stagehnd1]

It's not for the people to decide!!! This is a civil rights issue. It never should have been up for the people to vote on!!!!

[vinny]

marriage is not a civil rights issue... the equal protections ruling of the CA Supreme Court was dubious... sexual orientation as a suspect class is dubious... there are few on this page who can even begin to justify it...

[wndrwrthg]

Anfd they were wrong. The tyranny of the majority cannot be visited on the minority.

[Darthwave]

When all else fails point to a black man or in this case Black people in general.

[robXdion]

You betcha!! That train is never late.

[kutkreata]

I know. So quick to blame Black people and "The Black Church" for our "homophobia". So quick to act like they were being betrayed & how it was all Obama's fault because he didn't "tell us to accept it". So quick to call us ignorant and uneducated. So quick to call us bigots when they were being bigots themselves. How many articles have been written about "Blacks Have A Gay Problem & Need To Get Over Their Homophobia" ?. What other ethnic group was marginalized like that? It's disgusting.

[Myshkin57]

Why are we still going from one group to blame to another. They're all to blame. The truth is that if black voters had gone 50/50 it might not have passed and if black voters had voted in any significant percentage against it, it certainly would not have passed. I'm not blaming black voters, but neither should we blame old voters, religious voters, or non-college-educated voters. This whole blame game is a loser for everyone.

[pangursperson]

What's wrong with finding out the truth? Fact is, older people tend to be more homophobic because they grew up in a time where being gay was considered shameful, wrong, etc. Fact is, religious people consider gay people to be living against the will of whatever god they follow. And, fact is, the less education a person has, the easier that person can be manipulated by untruthful, fear-mongering tactics. Now at least we have a clearer picture of what we're up against, and we can finally stop with the prop 8 race debate.

[Myshkin57]

But black voters did vote in overwhelming numbers for proposition 8 and a shift in their numbers from 70/30 to 50/50 and it wouldn't have passed. Why is it that once we find numbers that suggest a shift in some other groups would have kept it from passing makes it the case that black voters aren't as responsible for the passage as all these other groups that are now getting blamed.

But look, I'm all for having the data. It's just silly that we say "You can't blame that group whose overwhelming support did in fact make it pass but here are some others you can."

[biichama]

I still blame the Mormon church for funding it.

[vinny]

No one cares what cultists think.

[ImpalaSuperSport]

The scales were primarily tipped by all those minority Obama supporters. I wonder how gay Obama supporters feel about that?

[lynnn]

Yeap blame the minorities, don't blame anyone else.

[ImpalaSuperSport]

There were other players, however let me remove 'minority' and put it this way -

The scales were primarily tipped by all those NON-GAY Obama SUPPORTERS.

[theJuanStar]

Yes. Let's blame a minority that wouldn't effect the numbers, as opposed to the majority that barely voted against.

[Myshkin57]

There were a lot of factors, but a shift in black votes from 70/30 to 50/50 and it might not have passed. Note: I say 'might' because we can only look at exit polls and other after-the-fact polls to get an idea of how minorities votes. The actual vote might have been very different. A 50/50 black vote would have put the Prop 8 vote at about 50/50, according to the data available. I'm not saying we should blame anyone, but let's be honest about the numbers.

This whole "blaming one group to remove blame from another" stuff is nonsense.

[Enlightened22]

Does it mean something that times and times again religious people find themselves in the same category with the uneducated?

[JDJase]

LOL exactly!

[vinny]

quite a religious sentence you have there....

[pangursperson]

LOL!!! That is a brilliant observation!

[kutkreata]

Let's see, how do we get the majority who voted against gay marriage on our side? I know! Let's insult them!

I don't want to hear the crying and the blame game if it passes again. Being intolerant and insulting of the very religious beliefs that many hold dear will only alienate the gay community from the faithful, which happens to be the majority. That "religion" that you guys seem to love to insult and make fun of is very real to many of us, even many on your side. If you want tolerance, you need to start giving it.

[fireW]

Of course it's bigotry driven by religious zealotry. Repubs routinely use that excuse to justify legislated discrimination and big government interference in private lives