Raleigh, N.C. – Forty-nine percent of North Carolina’s unaffiliated voters support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and woman.
According to the live caller poll of 400 unaffiliated general election voters, 49 percent said they support amending the North Carolina Constitution to define marriage as only between one man and one woman. Forty-three percent said they oppose doing so, and seven percent said they do not know or have no opinion.
These numbers are nearly identical to an August 2010 Civitas poll when unaffiliated voters supported a marriage amendment by a 50 percent to 43 percent margin.
“These numbers show that support for the marriage amendment is holding steady among unaffiliated voters,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca. “What is surprising was the strong support in the 25 and under age group as opponents often point to this group as most in support of same sex marriage.”
Unaffiliated voters age 18-25 most support (54 percent) amending the Constitution to define marriage as between one man and woman, followed by 53 percent of those in the 66+ demographic. Voters in Western North Carolina most support the amendment by a 66 percent to 28 percent margin, while Triangle voters most oppose it (62 percent).
“The legislature has had a marriage amendment before it for 8 years. It is time for legislators to go on record as to whether they want the voters of North Carolina to have a vote on this important matter,” added De Luca.
North Carolina is the only Southern state without a Defense of Marriage Act amendment in its state Constitution. House Bill 777/Senate Bill 106, “Defense of Marriage,” may be considered in September when legislators reconvene for the special session. Both versions of the bill are currently in each chamber’s Rules Committee.
The Civitas Poll is the only regular live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more information on Civitas polling see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.
Full Text of Question:
“Do you support or oppose amending the North Carolina Constitution to define marriage as only between one man and one woman?”
Total Support – 49%
Total Oppose – 43%
Strongly Support – 41%
Somewhat Support – 8%
Somewhat Oppose – 9%
Strongly Oppose – 34%
Don’t Know/No Opinion – 7%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 400 unaffiliated general election voters in North Carolina was conducted August 15-16 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of unaffiliated voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in at least one of the past three general elections (2006, 2008, 2010) or be newly registered to vote since November 2, 2010.
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 400 interviews (registered voters) will be within +/-4.9% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every unaffiliated voter in North Carolina who had voted in at least one of the past three general elections or is newly registered since November 2, 2010.
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[…] they know that their viewpoint is not reflected by a majority of North Carolina voters. A recent Civitas Institute Poll suggests that 49% of NC’s unaffiliated voters support a constitutional amendment defining […]