Even More Poll Dancing

News sources, including the Los Angeles Times, are touting yet another poll saying that Californians are in favor of marriage neutering. This is not to be confused with the other recent poll. Hmmm, I wonder why this is being done now? Ann M. Simmons has the LATimes.com blog entry.

The poll was conducted in English and Spanish by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute, an organization focused on religion and values. It was based on random phone interviews with more than 3,300 Californians over a two-week period in late June, examining the religious-based attitudes toward same-sex marriage two years after Proposition 8 was approved.

Again, one need not identify as religious, believe in God, read the Bible, attend church, or anything else of that sort to understand that the state has an interest in licensing marriage as a bride+groom institution that it does not have with other kinds of voluntary personal relationships, nor to believe voters should be the ones to decide.

Meanwhile, 29% of Californians polled said they believed Proposition 8 was bad for the state, compared with 22% who believed it was “a good thing.”

A total of 51% of Californians said they would vote to allow homosexuals to marry if a vote similar to Proposition 8 were held tomorrow, compared with 45% who said they would vote to keep same-sex marriage illegal, the survey showed.

Same-sex marriage is not illegal. It isn't state licensed, but nobody is going to be arrested or fined or ticketed for having a ceremony, exchanging rings, making promises, having a reception, opening gifts, going on a vacation, living together, sharing a bed, changing names, and asking employers, businesses, and others to consider them married.

I also wonder how many of the people answering the poll were aware of the realities of California law when it comes to domestic partnerships?

Then the story details how the poll, which is essentially asking people if they make a distinction between a a same-sex couple that has chosen to be together and a both-sexes couple that has chosen to be together, treats the respondents differently on the basis of what skin color/ethnicity they were born with, and the religions they choose to practice (probably as a result of the religious orientation). Go figure.

The same reporter had the paper's print story, which has more information about the rest of the poll. For more on that and the latest about Roy Ashburn, see my namesake blog.