The Fix: The most surprising gay marriage poll weve seen in a while
Everyone wants to know whetherJeb Bush can survive his support for Common Core and comprehensive immigration reform in today's Republican Party.
One deal-breaker that might surprise people, though: His opposition to gay marriage.
NBC News and Marist Collegeare out witha batch ofnew 2016 primary polls. And as you might expect,Common Core,immigration reform, belief in man-made climate change and support for raising taxes on the wealthy are among those with the potential to alienate lotsof conservatives.
But according to the polls, so does opposition to gay marriage -- an issue on whichBush agrees with basically every other candidate.
The polls, in fact, show that about half of likely GOP caucus and primary voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina said they find opposition to gay marriage either "mostly" or "totally" unacceptable in a candidate. Fifty-two percent of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire and South Carolina said opposing gay marriage is either mostly or totally unacceptable, while 47 percent of likely Iowa caucus voters agree.
By comparison, 63 percent of Iowa voters say belief in man-made climate change (and fighting it) is unacceptable, 56 percent of New Hampshire voters say raising taxes on the wealthy is a non-starter, and 52 percent of South Carolina voters say support for comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship is a deal-breakeron one level or another.
Voters in all three states find a candidate who supports gay marriage to be about as amenable as one who doesn't toe the party line on any of these issues.
And while the numbers are surprising, they make some sense. A Pew poll conducted in March 2014 showed 39 percent of Republicans and Republican leaners supported gay marriage. Add the passage of time andthe fact that non-Republicans can vote in New Hampshire and South Carolina, and you've got a potentially less anti-gay marriage electorate come next year.
There's also the possibility that the poll question confused some people. Asking people about gay marriage opposition rather than support for it brings double-negatives into the picture, possibly confusing some poll respondents. And people are more apt to respond in the negative when in doubt.
But it's also pretty clear from this and other polls that there are a growing number of Republicans who support gay marriage. So does it allmean we'll see a GOP presidential candidate in 2016 come out in support of gay marriage? Probably not. While there are some supporters of immigration reform (see: Bush and Marco Rubio) and Common Core (Bush) in the group, the name of the game is alienating as few people as possible.
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The Fix: The most surprising gay marriage poll weve seen in a while