That’s what a new University of Washington poll reveals when voters were asked (with the exact ballot language of Referendum 71; see below) whether they support or reject an effort to repeal the state’s expanded domestic partnership law. It either indicates the soft sell is working, or the state’s voters strongly disagree with the decision lawmakers made in 1998, enacting the state’s own Defense of Marriage Act.
For your reference, here’s how Ref. 71 reads:
Statement of Subject: The legislature passed Engrossed Second Substitute Senate Bill 5688[6] concerning rights and responsibilities of state-registered domestic partners [and voters have filed a sufficient referendum petition on this bill].
Concise Description: This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage.
Should this bill be:
Approved ___
Rejected ___
Tarcash
44% Doesn’t shout be 44% Don’t. What, is some ten year old writing these things? Do you even bother to proof? Stupid grammatical errors, misspellings, and to top it off some posts with pictures that repeat. Do you even bother to double check anything you post? Pathetic.
Rob
If Prop 71 is polling 51-44, it’s in serious danger of going down. Remember, people lie in polls about their support for gay rights. (It’s like the Bradley effect.) Also, off-year elections tend to get more turnout from older voters.
aeblikkon
That’s actually lower than the national percentage of polled voters who approve of a system of same-sex partnership recognition.
&If the polling is like this for DPs, then marriage must be lower. Why is Washington considered a progressive state?
Merv
This is a sure loser. First of all, it’s much harder to get people to vote yes on a referendum than no, regardless of what it’s about. Second, polls always understate the anti-gay vote by 5-10 points. Third, it’s an off-year election, and only the motivated voters will be going (There are a lot more motivated Christians than motivated gays). Fourth, they will be well-funded and we won’t. We lose again, probably by ten points. We’re batting zero.
Lurleen
This was a poll of LIKELY voters in this off-year election. If people are wondering why these numbers are worse than past numbers for the state, the reason is that most polls sample the entire pool of registered voters. The current poll sampled only that subset of voters who are likely to vote Oct 16-Nov 3 (mail-in ballots can be submitted any time during that period).
The poll is disappointing but hardly surprising, and I hope it reminds domestic partnership advocates that complacency in this case WILL spell failure. Luckily the campaign has a smart system of identifying our base and is working to motivate them to vote when otherwise they may not have. WITH YOUR HELP we have a real chance to prevail. Please visit Approve71.org to see how you can help. We need donations and volunteers. We need YOU!
Referendum 71 asks voters to approve or reject the domestic partnership law. Vote “APPROVED” on Ref. 71 to preserve the domestic partnership law.
Bill
I am sorry to be a downer here. However, we have already lost this. Just as we will lose in Maine. And just as we will lose ANYTIME and ANYWHERE that our civil rights are put on a ballot to be determined by popular vote. This is precisely the reason minority rights are never to be placed on the ballot. The fact that Heterosexuals feel they have carved out a ‘gay exception’ to the constitution is exactly how we will prevail in the Supreme Court. We will never win at the polls. Never. People hate us too much. And while I could care less about being hated, I do care that this country has completely ignored the Constitution as it pertains to Gay Americans.
I mean, do we really believe that our oppressors are going to vote for our freedom? Really? The Heterosexuals who say they are voting for gay rights; it has been proven time and again that when they enter the booth, a ton of those votes for gay rights often change to a vote for bigotry in the solitude of the voting booth, where a voter is actually given power over another human being’s freedoms. This is both illegal and unconstitutional. But, as we have seen in California, citizens are quite willing to say ‘Fuck You’ to the Supreme Court, even after they ruled that it is un-Constitutional to ban same-sex couples from marrying. THEY DON’T CARE. THE CITIZENS COULD CARE LESS. The Supreme Court ruled on this. But the American people said ‘Fuck you. We don’t have to follow the constitution when it comes to gay citizens. We are ignoring your ruling.’ My point being is that Heterosexuals have made it perfectly clear that THEY ARE WILLING TO IGNORE THE LAW AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES in order to continue their discrimination against us. So how in the HELL do we look to those very people to vote on our rights. THIS IS TYRANNY. THIS IS APARTHEID.
We have no allies here. Gay Equality is up to us and us alone.
I know a lot of people disagree with this, but the only way for Gay Americans to secure the same civil liberties that EVERY OTHER AMERICAN is granted by birth is by the Supreme Court of The United States stating once and for all that it MUST be so. We will NEVER do this at the ballot box. NOR SHOULD WE BE ASKED OR REQUIRED TO. IT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL TO DO SO.
Looking to our slave-masters for our freedom??????????? Dumb. The Heterosexuals who CREATED us have made it perfectly clear that they intend to spend the rest of their lives abusing, torturing, murdering, raping and dehumanizing us. We are dealing with a group of people that are capable of this type of behavior TOWARDS THEIR VERY OWN GAY & LESBIAN CHILDREN. If they are capable of the type of abuse that we have taken our entire lives, what makes us think they are going to cast a vote in favor of our equality?
I am just waiting for the time when we as Gay Americans will seek reparations from the US Government for the abuse, torture, murder and rape that we have suffered at the hands of the Heterosexuals who created us, while our Government not only did nothing to stop it, but participated in the abuse, torture and murder, as well.
America the beautiful? Land of the free? Home of the brave? WTF?
hyhybt
@Tarcash: 44% Doesn’t shout be 44% Don’t. is a truly bizarre “sentence” coming from someone complaining about the writing š