By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League
RALEIGH — Despite what you may have read in your local newspaper or heard from televised news reports, support for the Marriage Amendment is not waning in North Carolina, but is, in fact, slowly gaining momentum.
“The small minority of opponents sounds loud because the editors and news producers at TV stations oppose the Marriage Amendment and most reporters who write on it oppose the Marriage Amendment,” Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca wrote on his blog in response to a recent Raleigh News and Observer article and other media reports touting a swell of support for homosexual marriage.
On the contrary, the Civitas Institute’s most recent poll, reported March 6, shows 64 percent of North Carolina voters favoring the amendment, which would insert into the State Constitution the one man-one woman definition of marriage. That figure is up 2 percent from last October.
“Admittedly, Elon University polls, which prompted recent news stories, continue to show declining support for the Amendment,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “But that’s why you have to look further at who is being polled and what exactly is being asked.”
The Elon poll, in which 54 percent of those interviewed reportedly opposed the Marriage Amendment, was not limited to registered voters nor did it employ the exact wording of the amendment that will appear on May’s ballot. Even the poll’s assistant director warned that the results should not be “over-interpreted,” according to media reports.
“It’s interesting to us why the News & Observer and other news outlets would choose to promote the results of a poll that didn’t use the same question as the ballot and didn’t focus on voters, especially when results from a poll that did both were readily available,” Dr. Creech said. “The truth is, the Marriage Amendment is gaining support, especially among independent voters.”
Civitas reported that “the biggest move this month over last was the move of unaffiliated voters from a plus 11 percent margin in January to a plus 24 percent margin in February in support of the marriage amendment.” The organization’s poll of likely voters (those who had voted in at least one of the past three general elections or had registered since November 2010) showed continued strong support among African Americans and others.
“The amendment continues to hold broad support among almost all groups,” De Luca said. He added that media outlets who accuse the state of “looking to catch a wave that crested eight years ago …” are doing a “selective reading of history, conveniently neglecting California Proposition 8 that passed in 2008 (52.24 percent) and Amendments in Arizona (56.20 percent) and Florida (61.92 percent).”
Even liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling reported in January that 58 percent of respondents in its most recent poll support the Marriage Amendment as opposed to 32 percent against it.
Furthermore, Civitas reported that the lawsuit filed late last year by the Guilford County Register of Deeds and a handful of others dissatisfied with the state’s marriage laws could help spur support for the Marriage Protection Amendment. When a question about the amendment was prefaced with information about the suit, 60 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to support the amendment.
“This is all the more reason that we need to spread the word about this and other frivolous lawsuits and what they could do to marriage in North Carolina if we don’t protect it by amending the Constitution on May 8,” Dr. Creech said. “Only when people realize what is truly at stake will they become motivated to take action.”
He said Christians and other marriage supporters across the state should be encouraged by the Civitas Poll results. “Don’t put much stock in what the media says on this matter,“ he said. “Above all, don’t let them discourage you. Join the effort to bring the support numbers even higher as the May referendum nears.”
To find out more about the Marriage Amendment and how you can get involved, visit the Vote FOR Marriage NC Web site at www.voteformarriagenc.com.