Poll Shows Support for Same-Sex Marriage Dropping in Arkansas?

Marriage,

The 2014 Arkansas Poll was released yesterday with some interesting statistics. While many are focusing on the poll’s findings concerning candidates and political leaders, the poll’s survey questions regarding same-sex marriage are striking.

Comparing this year’s Arkansas Poll with last year’s, support for same-sex marriage in Arkansas appears to have dropped by 2%.

In 2013:

  • 23% of respondents said same-sex marriage ought to be legal.
  • 21% said gay couples should be able to form civil unions, but not marry.
  • 46% said there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple’s relationship.
  • 9% said they do not know or otherwise refused to answer the question.

This year:

  • 21% of respondents said same-sex marriage ought to be legal (a 2% decrease over 2013).
  • 21% said gay couples should be able to form civil unions, but not marry (no change over 2013).
  • 48% said there should be no legal recognition of a gay couple’s relationship (a 2% increase over 2013).
  • 10% said they do not know or otherwise refused to answer the question(a 1% increase over 2013).

Now, before we say public opinion clearly is shifting against same-sex marriage in Arkansas, it’s important to note that the change is within the poll’s margin of error (3.6%). Statistically speaking, this demonstrates that attitudes on marriage in Arkansas remain where they were a year ago: The vast majority of Arkansans still oppose same-sex marriage. Nevertheless, it’s worth pointing out this is the first time the Arkansas Poll has recorded a decrease in support for same-sex marriage since 2005.

What is also interesting to note is how support for same-sex civil unions in Arkansas has dropped over the years. In 2007, 27% of Arkansans favored civil unions. Today only about 21% support them.

It’s also worth pointing out the Human Rights Campaign is spending, on average, about $1 million annually in Arkansas this year and over the next 2-3 years in an effort to change Arkansans’ opinions on homosexuality and same-sex marriage. So far, however, opinions appear unmoved–if not sliding in favor of traditional marriage.

READ MORE

More Evidence Marriage and Family are Good for the Economy

Family, Marriage,

We have written before about research revealing how marriage contributes to household income. Studies from the Heritage Foundation have shown marriage is as effective at raising household income as adding a few years to a person’s education. In other words, being married with a college degree puts a person’s income in the same range as that of someone with, for example, some graduate school education or a Master’s degree. This week there is more emerging evidence that marriage is good for parents and children.

According to a new study by officials from the National Marriage Project, “Growing up with both parents (in an intact family) is strongly associated with more education, work, and income among today’s young men and women. Young men and women from intact families enjoy an annual ‘intact-family premium’ that amounts to $6,500 and $4,700, respectively, over the incomes of their peers from single-parent families.”

If those numbers hold true, that means a young adult who grew up in an intact family with a mother and father present will earn roughly $200,000 – $290,000 more over the course of his or her career than someone who grew up in a single-parent household.

There are plenty of other factors to consider. As other researchers have noted, children with a married mother and father do better in school; have fewer discipline problems and are less likely to get in trouble with the law; and are more likely to go on to college. However, one thing these positive outcomes all have in common is a married mother and father.

(more…)

READ MORE

ADF: Court Can’t Change These 3 Truths About Marriage

Marriage

Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom have published a list of three truths the courts cannot change about marriage.

ADF writes,

  • Marriage is creative. The union of man and woman has the inherent potential to create and raise children, and that is what makes marriage a unique relationship. Only male-female relationships can produce children, and having parents committed to each other and their children is best for children. A woman can be a great mom, but she can never be a dad, and a great dad can never be a mom.
  • Marriage is our foundation.  As the Supreme Court has previously stated, marriage is “fundamental to the very existence and survival of the [human] race.” Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 374, 384 (1978). The lifelong, faithful union of husband and wife promotes durable families for the common good today and for future generations.
  • Marriage is our future. It “is an institution, in the maintenance of which . . . the public is deeply interested, for it is the foundation of the family and of society, without which there would be neither civilization nor progress,” according to the Supreme Court in Maynard v. Hill, 125 U.S. 190, 211 (1888). Marriage is progressive – it ensures that our civilization will not only continue by producing future generations, but also that those future generations will be best prepared to become good citizens and contribute to a healthy, thriving society.

When courts try to unilaterally redefine marriage, they compromise the benefits of marriage. ADF also lists three things we can all do to support marriage in society.

Click here to read more.

READ MORE