ABC Poll: 49% Support of Gay Marriage

Yesterday, I asked about a CBS poll that said 42% of the country supports equal marriage, and we chalked it up to the Vermont/Iowa effect.

Today, an ABC poll comes saying 49% support equal marriage. Interesting. I think we can safely say that we are on the way to actual support for equal marriage, and we are likely well into the "support for some recognition" territory.

Yet, I have a problem with the question that was asked in the ABC poll:

On another subject, do you think it should be legal or illegal for gay and lesbian/homosexual couples to get married? Do you feel that way strongly or somewhat?

In short: they were given two options, no in between. I wonder how the numbers would break down if civil unions/domestic partnerships were included? I'm still optimistic though, especially since 53% believed that marriages from another state should be recognized in their own.

Things are looking up :-).

Thanks be to Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com for a great analysis. He indicates that the preference seems to be civil unions>marriage>no recognition, and, in the absence of the third option, marriage will become overrepresented... thus skewing the ABC poll. Silver seems to chalk these up as indicative of movement, but likely outliers, especially considering a Quinnipiac poll also released today showing marriage support around 38% and opposition at 55%, though support for civil unions is safely at 57%.

Edgewood Teacher in Gay Scandal!

...but not what you think it's about. From ABC:

An Edgewood high school teacher resigns after admitting to taking students to a Dayton gay bar where the teenagers got their hands on alcohol.

Lori Epperson submitted a letter of resignation Thursday. She also sent an email to her supervisor and the school principal in which she admits to taking four female students to a club called Masque.

Sources tell 9News that Epperson's 18-year-old daughter was among the teens.

School officials launched an investigation after learning about the incident. They describe it as "inappropriate" conduct for a teacher.

Story goes on to indicate that Epperson got permission from all the parents, but the girls got ahold of alcohol after they had walked away. Out of curiosity, I wonder why they decided to do this at all. Surely the teacher was aware of the PR fiasco this would cause, though I applaud the action in theory. (There was a teacher at MU who made his students go to a drag show to talk about gender performance... but that's an older crowd.)

...unfortunately for Masque, one of the girls was 17, which is a real problem, as the school district is considering pursuing legal action.

Oops.

Thanks to Montgomery for the heads up yesterday, and Towleroad for the reminder today.