Proponents of a gay-inclusive domestic
partnership law in Washington State have carved out a 17 point lead
against an effort to repeal the law, a new poll finds.
The Greenberg Quinlan Rosner (GQR) poll
of 500 likely voters found 53% of respondents support the law and 36%
oppose it, with the remainder undecided.
Opponents of the “everything but
marriage” law approved by lawmakers in the spring collected 138,000
signatures to put the law up for a vote.
But with five days to Election Day,
proponents of Referendum 71 are not taking anything for granted.
They say the voter demographic of an off-year election does not favor
them.
“[We know] that in an off-year
election, older, more conservative voters turn out in greater
numbers,” Washington Families Standing Together Chairwoman Anne
Levinson said in a statement.
Support for the gay partner law has
increased since the same firm released its last results. In
September, the measure lead 51 to 44 percent.
If approved, Referendum 71 would extend
a 2007 domestic partnership law for a second time, granting gay and
lesbian couples all the remaining state-provided rights, benefits and
responsibilities of marriage.
Opponents, however, have a steep
incline to overcome; poll numbers aside, they've managed to raise
only a fraction of the money proponents have amassed. Washington
Families says it has raised $780,000 to keep the law, while donations
to Protect Marriage, whose members favor repeal, total $60,000.
Protect Marriage says the domestic
partnership law is unlawful because it violates a 1998 gay marriage
ban approved by legislators and ruled constitutional by the state's
Supreme Court.