As you may recall Prop 8 was approved in 2008, making it illegal for gays and lesbians to get married. Thus, since 2008 more than a 10 percent swing in approval of gay marriage has occurred, giving renewed hope to those in favor of same-sex marriage. The biggest shock to me was that the swing came in large part from Catholics, Latinos and older voters. These three voting groups have historically been the strongest opponents to same-sex marriage. Does the increase in approval among these opponents represent a legitimate chance for the same-sex marriage community, or this still too small an increase to bring about actual change?
5 comments:
I think that as time goes on and younger people get to the age where they are able to vote we will begin to see a dramatic increase in approval ratings. I have no idea how extra votes would start coming from Catholics, Latinos and older voters. I guess everyones opinions are changing on the issue, and hopefully is the near future there will be even more of an increase in approval.
I agree with Shawn. The more younger people vote, the more likely that something like gay marriage will become more favorable. This is nothing against our elders, but it has been shown that the older someone is right now, the higher chance that the person will be, for example, racist. Again this is nothing against the person, it is just the time that they were raised. I am sure that when we are "old," some of our beliefs will be looked upon in much the same way that many of the isms are now. Back to the issue of gay marriage, I am glad that it is becoming more favorable, because it shows the population is becoming much more open minded and reasonable. Who are we to tell someone what they can and can't do with their personal life? To make a law saying that someone can't marry a certain person is like making a law saying that the Constitution is now illegal. Whatever happened to freedom of expression or speech (for lack of a better amendment)?
I think as of right now, the amount of increase would be too small to bring about a drastic change, such as changes to laws. However, the support could continue which would result in more and more increase over the years. This could eventually bring about a change, but as of right now it is a pretty small amount that simply shows potential to grow.
I do believe that the younger generation does play a giant role in the results, but hopefully this means that America is getting on the role to become even more accepting of all types of people. All I can say is that hopefully we can continue on this road and then hopefully, together, tackle the remaning problems that burden our country as well.
As others have said, I think the youth voting group is very powerful, and as more and more younger citizens begin voting, I think their votes could alter results. With regards to the question Greg posed, I think any increase, however small, helps, and maybe eventually, there will be enough to cause a change in results.
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