http://rpc.senate.gov/_files/Mar2806MarriageAmendSD.pdf GOP Senate paper outlines arguments for marriage amendment
Mar 31, 2006
By Michael Foust
Baptist Press
WASHINGTON (BP)--Failure of Congress to send a constitutional marriage amendment to the states likely will result in courts eventually legalizing "gay marriage" nationwide, a policy paper published by the U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee asserts.
"The greatest fallacy of the same-sex marriage debate is the well-meaning, but naïve, belief that Congress need do nothing and that the American people will sort the question out on a state level," the 16-page document, released March 28, says. "... The Constitution is being amended -- the only question is whether it will be by judges or by the people. Congress can either send an amendment to the states, or it can allow the courts to impose same-sex marriage nationwide."
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While recent polls have shown support for a federal marriage amendment hovering around 50 percent, support likely is "substantially" higher, the paper says. It notes that in the 19 states that have considered marriage amendments, voters have approved them with average support of 71.5 percent. But pre-election polls in those states typically have underestimated support for the proposals, the paper says. It lists 12 states where pre-election polling was conducted. In those states, the actual vote was an average of 10.5 percent higher than the pre-election poll. For example, Arkansas adopted an amendment with 75 percent of the vote in 2004, but the poll had support at only 65 percent. The same was true in the Democrat-leaning states of Michigan (59 percent vote total, 52 percent pre-election poll) and Oregon (57 percent vote total, 50 percent poll).
The paper surmises that respondents in the polls may have been "wary of giving their true beliefs to pollsters in light of some advocates’ disturbing tendency to label opposition to gay marriage as 'bigoted' or 'hateful.'" "Rather than invite hostile harassment from strangers calling their homes, some respondents appear to have kept their views private, and then expressed them at the ballot box when given the opportunity," the paper says. "In summary, although polling for a federal constitutional amendment suggests slim majority support at present, there is reason to believe that the actual support may be higher. And more importantly, the only way to know this for sure is to send an amendment to the states for ratification, and let the local political process function."
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