Ohioans’ opinions on same-sex marriage appear to have changed since 2004 when state voters overwhelmingly supported a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
A Saperstein Poll for The
Columbus Dispatch shows that 54 percent back a new amendment to repeal the 2004 measure, the newspaper reports, and allow any two consenting adults to marry.
The amendment banning same-sex marriage passed with 62 percent supporting it. But now, when the U.S. Supreme Court is set to consider a pair of landmark same-sex marriage cases, only 40 percent of state residents oppose overturning the ban.
The new measure allows religious institutions to decide whether to conduct same-sex marriages, while protecting institutions that refuse to marry same-sex couples.
Martin Saperstein, whose Columbus firm conducted the telephone survey of 1,003 adults, said the state’s electorate has transformed since 2004, primarily because younger people who favor gay marriage have now reached voting age. Almost 75 percent of poll respondents under 35 said they approve of same-sex marriages.
“You would think 15 years ago that might be scandalous, but now it’s not even mentioned [as an issue],” he told the Dispatch.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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