Civitas Poll: Support for Marriage Amendment Holding Steady

March 30, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Jim Tynen (919) 834-2099
James.Tynen@NCCivitas.org

Raleigh, N.C. – Support remains strong for a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would give the current definition of marriage additional legal protection. More than six out of 10 North Carolina voters say they support a constitutional amendment that establishes marriage between one man and woman as the only recognized domestic legal union in the state.

That gives amendment supporters a 2-to-1 edge over those who oppose it. The same ratio holds for those who strongly support it compared to those who strongly oppose it.

“Neither side in this campaign has launched a paid advertising campaign, but the ‘anti’ side has had a lot of free support from all of the state’s major newspapers,” said Civitas President Francis De Luca. “However, the amendment is about deeply felt convictions affecting our most important social institution, the family. It will take far more than news stories and editorials to convince amendment supporters to change their minds.”

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 questions:

Do you support or oppose a constitutional amendment that says: “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State?”

9/11     1/12     2/12     3/12
62%     62%     64%     61%     Total Support
31%     30%     30%     32%     Total Oppose

57%     57%     57%     54%     Strongly Support
5%       5%       6%       7%       Somewhat Support
7%       8%       5%       7%       Somewhat Oppose
24%     22%     24%     25%     Strongly Oppose
7%       6%       6%       6%       Undecided/Don’t Know (DO NOT READ)
—         2%       —         —         Refused (DO NOT READ)

For the full results and crosstabs, click here. This poll of 600 registered 2012 general election voters in North Carolina was conducted March 22-25, 2012 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ.  All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered 2012 general election 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 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person 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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