Killing Amendment 2

There are some new Florida polling numbers out, and they're a mixed bag. Gov. Crist is less popular than he has been, but he's still popular by any reasonable standard. Drilling for oil off the coast is popular, and that's a huge switch historically for Florida. I've said before that I oppose it, but that I think it's inevitable, if only because we do a lot more with oil than just refine it into gas for our cars. It's going to stay in demand for the foreseeable future.

And then there's the mixed bag on the disgusting Amendment 2, which really is the equivalent of piling on the Florida LGBT community. In case you haven't been paying attention, there are already 3 laws in Florida that prevent gays and lesbians from marrying each other. But some wingnuts decided that that wasn't quite enough, so we needed an amendment to the state constitution on top of all that, they say, because they don't want some federal judge overturning our local laws. Sorry to disappoint the wingnuts, but if the Supreme Court overturns DOMA at some point in the future, and says that marriage is a personal right, all the amendments to the state constitution in the world won't change that. What Amendment 2 really is is an attempt to push conservative turnout in the presidential election, and given that recent polls have Barack Obama pulling even with McCain down here, I'd say it isn't working.

But the numbers on the Amendment are distressingly close.

Support for the proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman falls short of the 60 percent approval threshold. Voters in the poll support the ballot Amendment 2 by 58-37 percent, with 5 percent undecided. Republicans favor the amendment 74-21 percent, while Democrats oppose it 50-44 percent.
The numbers, as I've been following them, are distressingly close. Support has plateaued in the high 50s and opposition has never climbed above 40%. Turnout will drive a lot of the undecideds, and we need to drive them to oppose this amendment. So if you're a Floridian who reads this blog, please, tell your neighbors to vote against Amendment 2. And go by SayNo2 to see if there's anything else you can do to help defeat this odious amendment.

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