… On abortion rights, both parties have a claim on public opinion. Maybe more to the point, both can make a strong case that the other party has an extreme view. Abortion is the relatively rare issue in which the cliché is true: public opinion does actually rest about midway […] Read more »
U.S. Tilts Progressive on Immigration and Gay Marriage
Looking at the news from Washington a little more than a week ago, Americanophiles in Turkey were confused: Was the U.S. moving more toward openness and tolerance or back to more fundamentalism? Were Americans following Kemal Ataturk or Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan? The Supreme Court ruled, barely, for gay […] Read more »
As Texas G.O.P. Revives Abortion Ban, a Look at Public Opinion
The Texas Legislature began a second special session on Monday to again take up a bill that would, among other provisions, ban abortions in Texas after 20 weeks of gestation. … Discussions of women’s reproductive health have proved politically problematic for Republicans in recent years, but public opinion shows that […] Read more »
What if Marriage Equality Is Loving Instead of Roe?
… The fact that Windsor and Perry leave a two-tiered legal regime in place for most gay couples begs an even bigger question: why didn’t the Court simply establish marriage equality as the law of the land? The five justices making up the Court’s majority in Windsor clearly empathize with […] Read more »
As a Long-Term Political Issue, Gay Marriage Will Be More Like Abortion than Integration
… When people discuss the inexorable rise of support for gay marriage, they talk about it like racial integration. The supporters of Jim Crowe [sic] were routed: it became impossible to publicly support segregation, and the opposition eventually died or flipped. But there’s another possibility: that gay marriage is somewhat […] Read more »
Record-High Say Gay, Lesbian Relations Morally OK
Americans’ views toward a number of moral issues have shifted significantly since 2001. Their acceptance of gay and lesbian relations has increased the most, up 19 percentage points in the past 12 years — to a record high of 59% today. Americans’ tolerance toward having a baby outside of marriage […] Read more »