'Vote No' Side Gains Ground on Marriage Amendment

Less than three weeks from Election Day the battle over Minnesota's marriage amendment is too close to call.  

The latest KSTP/SurveyUSA poll shows 47 percent of Minnesotans surveyed support the amendment to the state constitution that would define marriage as only the union of one man and one woman.  It requires 50 percent of all votes cast in the election to pass an amendment.

According to the latest poll, 46 percent oppose the idea and 7 percent are undecided.  The margin of sampling error in the poll is +-4.3 percent.  Just last month our survey showed 50 percent voting "yes" and 43 percent voting "no."

Despite losing ground, supporters of the marriage amendment are encouraged that they're still in the lead.  "We're thrilled that we're maintaining a lead in the polls," says Autumn Leva of Minnesota for Marriage. "It also shows that we have a lot of work to do to make sure our grassroots supporters get out there to vote yes."  Leva also points out that in other states the number of people supporting a marriage amendment is almost always higher on Election Day than in pre-election polls.

Kate Brickman of Minnesotans United for All Families is aware of studies that show that statistical pattern, but she remains optimistic.  "All of that just really leads us to the conclusion that this is going to be really close and we just have to do everything we can to encourage people to vote no," says Brickman.

Both sides plan non-stop TV ad campaigns between now and Election Day.

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