61% of Californians support marriage equality

by Brian Leubitz

In the continuing data trickle from the good folks at the Field poll, the first covers the subject of marriage equality. As we’ve seen nationally, the numbers continue to shift towards the freedom to marry.

By a nearly two-to-one margin (61% to 32%), California voters approve of allowing same-sex  couples to marry. This represents a complete reversal in views about the issue from 1977, when The Field Poll conducted its first survey on this topic, and is the highest level of support ever measured by the poll. (Field)

No matter what the Supreme Court does on Prop 8, that odious measure is not long for this world. It will either be overturned in the courts or at the ballot before we get a new president.

In today’s data, we get the voters take on the status of the economy. In short, people are still gloomy:

Greater than seven in ten voters (72%) currently describe California’s economy as being in bad times. In addition, six in ten (61%) describe unemployment as very serious in the state, and just  36% expect job opportunities to improve in the coming year.  While this represents a slight improvement in the extremely bleak assessments of the state’s  economy that voters have offered over the past five years, the views of Californians remain gloomy.

In addition, when asked to describe their own financial situation, nearly half (44%) say they are  worse off now than they were last year, while fewer (30%) are better off. This is the sixth  consecutive year in which more voters report being financially worse off than better off. (Field)

Now, the economic indicators show that the economy is slowly improving, but the results are just too modest for the time being. If the sequester can be cleared out in Washington, we should expect to see continued growth. If not, we could see an unfortunate downturn.