… Republicans — the party and the rank and file — largely oppose same-sex marriage, as seen in the poll numbers, while Americans as a whole have now come to narrowly favor same-sex marriage, amid a sharp shift in recent years.
If, in the wake of the court’s rulings, voters come to see same-sex marriage as a settled issue at the national level – and the GOP downgrades the issue in its platform and rhetoric – it could move gay marriage off the table for national elections. That could be a good thing for Republicans’ chances at the ballot box, because the data show that the party’s position on same-sex marriage has become a problem for it in places that matter politically, suburbs and crucial states in the Electoral College. [cont.]
Dante Chinni, Wall Street Journal