Poll: Obama's Gay Marriage Stance Could Cost Him Votes

By Anugrah Kumar
May 13, 2012

A new poll shows that President Barack Obama's decision to support gay marriage might make many independents and even some Democrats less likely to vote for him in November.

According to a new USA Today/Gallup poll released Saturday, 26 percent say Obama's support of gay marriage will make them less likely to vote for him as compared to just 13 percent who say it will make them more likely.

About 60 percent of Americans say Obama's May 9th announcement will make no difference to who they will vote for.

The poll also found there was a negligible difference between the number of Americans who support gay marriage in general, which is about 50 percent, and those who approve of Obama's position on the issue, 51 percent.

Gallup noted that since there is a strong relationship between party identification and vote choice, a key to assessing how the change in Obama's view of same-sex marriage will affect his vote share this fall would be to look at its effect on independents, and on Democrats and Republicans whose views are different from the majority of their party. the rest