Views shift little after Obama backs gay marriage

[June 22, 2012]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's endorsement of gay marriage did little to shift the nation's views on the subject, with a new poll finding that the public remains evenly split on the issue.

Even so, an Associated Press-GfK survey released Friday found that the president fired up his core supporters -- at least for now -- with his support of gay marriage. More young people, liberals and Democrats say they strongly approve of Obama's handling of same-sex marriage than said they did before he disclosed his new position last month.

The poll found that 42 percent of Americans oppose gay marriage, 40 percent support it and 15 percent are neutral. Last August, the country was similarly divided over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to be legally married in their state, with 45 percent opposing, 42 percent favoring and 10 percent neutral.

The country's divisions -- and conflictions -- are clear in the voices of Americans.

"Marriage is a marriage, and it's between a man and a woman," said John Von Sneidern, a 76-year-old Republican from Fairfield, Conn., before pausing. "But on the other side of that, there are a lot of gay couples who are responsible and dedicated to each other and deserve a lot of the benefits of marriage."

The issue, however, won't shape his vote; he plans to vote on the economy and support Mitt Romney because of his private-sector experience.

Katherine Galdarisi, a 67-year-old Democrat from Sacramento, Calif., backed Republican John McCain four years ago but plans to back Obama this time. That's partly because she faults Republicans for not working with the president on issues voters care about, saying: "They fight him every step of the way and talk about things that don't matter like gay marriage."

"It's none of anybody's business," Galdarisi said. "I don't care if someone marries a monkey. It doesn't affect me in the least."

For years, Obama faced pressure from the left to announce his support for gay marriage, and he spent a chunk of his presidency signaling that he would do just that by saying that he was "evolving" on the issue.

While the economy continues to dominate the presidential race, Obama's team was mindful that anything -- including social issues like gay marriage -- could shift the balance if the contest, which surveys show is close less than five months before the election. Even so, Obama announced his reversal and risked turning off some conservative, moderate and independent voters across the nation and in states like Virginia and North Carolina that hadn't voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in decades until Obama won them four years ago.

The gamble may have paid off.

The AP-GfK poll showed that voters, at least nationally, didn't flee the president.

When asked which candidate Americans trust to do a better job of handling social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, there was little change from a poll taken about a week before Obama's May 9 announcement; 52 percent now side with Obama, compared with 36 percent for Romney.

And more Democrats and liberals said they strongly approved of the president's handling of gay marriage than did last August; 41 percent of Democrats now say that, compared with 26 percent back then, and 48 percent of liberals have that view, up from 28 percent almost a year ago.

But posing a potential problem for the president, his announcement also fired up the right -- against him. More Republicans and conservatives said they strongly disapproved of his handling of the issue now than before; 53 percent of Republicans said that, compared with 45 percent in August, and 52 percent of conservatives say as much now, up from 43 percent back then.

The issue could compel them to turn out in droves to vote against Obama.

Self-described social conservatives like Bethel Hissom of Knoxville, Tenn., is among those who plan to back Romney and who don't support allowing gays to wed.

"It's not marriage," the 65-year-old retired speech therapist said. Of Obama's position, she said: "It will probably help his chances at being re-elected. It will get the gay population in favor of that and that could swing votes to his favor. But it is not marriage."

Obama's announcement clearly affected some -- and in personal ways.

Trevor Rzucidlo, a 22-year-old who graduated last month from the University of Connecticut, had a roommate who is gay, and he said that hearing the president speak out in support of someone he cared about "was huge."

"My peers are just way more chilled out than older people are," said Rzucidlo, who considers himself an independent and plans to vote for Obama. "They're less concerned with how other people live their lives."

Indeed, support for gay marriage remains a popular position with younger voters; 50 percent of people under age 35 said they would favor allowing same-sex couples to be legally married in their state, compared with 36 percent of those ages 35 and up.

Among those under 35, overall approval of the president's handling of same-sex marriage has held steady, but those who back him do so more strongly now. His "strong" approval numbers have just about doubled, jumping from 17 percent last August to 34 percent in the AP-GfK survey.

The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted June 14-18, 2012, by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,007 adults nationwide, including 878 registered voters. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.0 percentage points and for registered voters it is 4.2 points.

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Online: http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com/

[Associated Press; By PHILIP ELLIOTT and DENNIS JUNIUS]

Associated Press Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and AP writer Josh Lederman contributed to this report.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.