The Boston Globe reports on the diminishing power of homophobia in politics:
Public support for gay marriage is at a record 53 percent, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released this month, the first time the poll has measured support for gay marriage above 50 percent. In 2004, support was 32 percent.
Among the young, the question appears settled: 68 percent of voters ages 18 to 29 support same-sex marriage rights.
The findings reflect broad trends revealed in other polls. As support has steadily risen, “gay marriage has lost its clout [to divide voters] as a wedge issue,'' said Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies for the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “Same-sex marriage has become mainstream.’’
I suspect that the scenario for anti-gay-rights activists is even worse than the numbers might suggest. For example, black Americans remain largely opposed to same-sex-marriage rights, but they're also least likely to vote for the kinds of politicians who oppose gay rights. Conversely, though, it's not clear to me how many of the people who support same-sex marriage are going to base their vote on that issue, although I suspect the GOP's homophobia may be a deal breaker for a nontrivial number of those young voters.
