Support for marriage equality has increased among Maryland voters, according to a recent poll conducted by Gonzales Research & Marketing. Fifty-one percent now say they would vote “yes” on Question 6, affirming the Civil Marriage Protection Act passed by Maryland lawmakers earlier this year.
The demographic breakdown is particularly interesting. In January only 33 percent of African-Americans polled supported the rights of same-sex couple to obtain a civil marriage. That number has grown to 44 percent. That shifting attitude may, in part, have been affected by prominent black clergy framing marriage equality as a civil rights issue — Rev. Delman Coates and Rev. Al Sharpton, among them. Seveny-five percent of Maryland Republicans remain opposed.
Now, as others have pointed out, a poll like this — one in which respondents may feel the need to give the more polite answer — should be taken with at least a modicum of skepticism. Who knows yet how Marylanders will vote behind the curtain? Still, the tide seems to be slowly turning in favor of gay marriage.
