About six-in-ten Americans say legalization of same-sex marriage is good for society

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With the Senate set to take up a bill that would protect same-sex marriage at the federal level, a clear majority of Americans continue to say that the legalization of same-sex marriage is good for society.

About six-in-ten adults (61%) express a positive view of the impact of same-sex marriage being legal, including 36% who say it is very good for society. Roughly four-in-ten have a negative view (37%), with 19% saying it is very bad.

The new survey – which was fielded in October, before the midterm elections – comes as some have questioned whether same-sex marriage will remain legal nationally following the Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, turning abortion laws back to the states. CONTINUED

Gabriel Borelli, Pew Research Center

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These 17 Swing Voters Have a Very Clear Message for Donald Trump

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When Donald Trump was president, you rarely heard Trump voters blame him when anything went wrong; it was the Democrats’ fault, usually, or the deep state or Robert Mueller or the F.B.I. or was due to any number of conspiracy theories. Which is why it was striking, during our focus group with 17 swing voters last Thursday, to hear so many of those who voted for Mr. Trump in 2020 say that they blamed him for Republican candidates’ performing poorly in last week’s midterms.

Turns out they were just getting started.

When we asked the group a moment later for a word or phrase to describe Mr. Trump, the once-foretold red wave was replaced by a wave of exhaustion, annoyance and frustration — a wave that only grew in strength when we asked them to react to Mr. Trump’s likely plans to announce a new bid for the presidency on Tuesday night. CONTINUED

Patrick Healy & Adrian J. Rivera, New York Times

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Marijuana Views Linked to Ideology, Religiosity, Age

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Americans’ support for marijuana legalization remains at the record-high 68% recorded each of the past two years. …

Combining data for the past five years, from 2018 through 2022, allows for a more robust analysis of demographic differences in views about marijuana legalization than is possible from a single poll. Using this aggregate, Gallup finds support for legalization averaged 67% among the general population but varied significantly by subgroup. Conservative, religious and older Americans are the least supportive, while liberal, nonreligious and younger Americans are the most supportive. CONTINUED

Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup

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DeSantis Pulls Record-High 2024 Support After Midterms

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has seen a surge of support for a potential presidential bid since the midterm elections, Morning Consult/Politico tracking surveys show, as a number of Republicans distance themselves from former President Donald Trump — blaming him in part for the GOP’s underperformance in the Nov. 8 contests. …

Following the midterms, a handful of Republicans have sought to distance the GOP from Trump, blaming his presence on the political stage and elevation of controversial candidates he supported for the party’s underperformance in this year’s elections. DeSantis, on the other hand, scored a major electoral victory in Florida, which some GOP insiders are interpreting as a Trump-esque aptitude for stoking base turnout — but without alienating voters more closely aligned with the middle. CONTINUED

Eli Yokley, Morning Consult

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Duh, It’s The Economy Stupid!

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Inflation and cost of living were the top national issues, and they were national. Governors of both parties were popular and did well promoting their own economic progress and policies. But voters did expect candidates for the House and Senate to address the spiking inflation and cost of living. They left them feeling angry and dissatisfied.

In our polls, Democrats and Republicans started at near parity on which party was better on handling the cost of living, but that advantage slipped to 7-points, 6 in this Election poll. It is the top priority for those who voted Democratic, and yet no economic reason factored in their vote this year. Indeed, again. It is hard not to say, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Failure of national Democrats to address the economy meant rural areas and white working class communities were a political wasteland. But cost of living was also the top issue for Democrats, Black, Hispanic, and Asian voters. Turnout was down for Blacks and Hispanics and Democratic support for Asian American voters. …

Democracy Corps conducted a national web survey with 2,520 voters from Nov. 6-8, 2022. The data include a base sample of 1,390 registered voters, with oversamples of 330 Black voters, 360 Hispanic voters, and 440 Asian American voters, for a total of 500 respondents in each group. CONTINUED

Democracy Corps

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Humility Beat Hubris (For Now)

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On November 8th, humility beat hubris. The election was not a triumph for professionals of either party who, with a few exceptions, didn’t see it coming. It is hard to claim credit for something you didn’t see. Meanwhile, voters, who generally lack hubris, quietly took a stand, particularly those in the middle who don’t talk to pollsters and just go do their thing.

There will be a lot of analysis forthcoming about who turned out and why, and how they all voted. But it is pretty clear that the “normal” people (see October 9th post), decided that Republicans were the riskier bet. They still don’t embrace either party – or politics in general these days – but when it came down to it, they decided that the Republicans go too far in ways that are more dangerous than the ways the Democrats go too far. That’s not approbation, but it is and was a choice. CONTINUED

Diane Feldman, View from the Pearl

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