Marriage Amendment Passage Not Looking Good
A new poll shows that while the Marriage Amendment has more support than opposition, it would fail.
Of the 542 respondents registered to vote, 47 percent said they would vote for the amendment and 39 percent said they would vote against it. Ten percent of respondents said they would not vote and 4 percent said they were unsure.
Leaving the ballot blank counts as a no vote. (Source) – Emphasis mine.
Since 1900, the constitution has required the approval of a majority of those voting at the election—not just a majority of those voting on the amendment question—to ratify the amendment. Thus, if a person votes at the election, failure to vote on an amendment is the equivalent of a “no” vote. A notice to this effect is printed on the ballot. Historically, it has taken roughly a 60 percent “yes” vote to pass an amendment.
This may not be the slam dunk the proponents said it would be.
Sidenote to Jack & Ben:
Constitutional amendment ballot questions appear on the ballot just after the listing of state offices, before the listing of county offices.
Andy, you are correct regarding how the votes will be tabulated. However, the polls have shown that Minnesotan’s consistently support the Marriage Protection Amendment. In addition to the liberal Survey/USA result of 47%/Yes and 39%/no, the PPP poll last week also reported that Minnesotans supported the amendment by 48%/Yes to 44%/No. The Strib poll in November was 48%/Yes, 43%/No.
In addition to this, our polls show that 60% of Minnesota voters support the legislature giving them the right to vote on the definition of marriage.
Polls in liberal California and Maine showed that the marriage amendment was consistently behind – yet both still passed. This is because people tend to give what they think is the politically correct (Minnesota Nice) response to a poll. Yet, when they go into the voting booth they affirm marriage as between one man and one woman.
Andy, no one said this would be a slam dunk. We have a lot of work to do. But with the recent Appeals Court decision, it is clear that marriage has been put on trial in Minnesota. Soon, someone will decide the question of marriage in Minnesota. We believe that the people should decide, not politicians or activist judges.
I assume you will be demanding that Romney remove himself from the ballot, since he polling less than 50% and losing to Obama.
Don’t want that drag on the ballot.