SALON

Tuesday, Apr 24, 2012 6:15 PM UTC

Obama’s Amendment One silence

The election year limits of his gay marriage “evolution” are on display in North Carolina today

By

Topics: War Room, 2012 Elections,

Obama’s Amendment One silencePresident Obama (Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster)

Anyone hoping that President Obama will finish “evolving” and announce his support for gay marriage this year might want to look at what’s unfolding in North Carolina right now.

On May 8, voters there will be asked to decide whether to amend the state’s constitution to ban not just gay marriage but also civil unions. This would represent a serious step back for the marriage equality movement, and polls show that Amendment One, as the proposed ban is known, would pass if the vote were held today. Last month, Obama’s campaign released a statement expressing his opposition to the amendment, but he didn’t say anything about it during his visit to the state today, sticking instead to his script on student loans.

A good case can be made that Obama is seriously hurting the campaign to defeat Amendment One with his silence. For one thing, there are signs that many North Carolina voters aren’t engaged in – or even aware of – the referendum battle. And since it will be settled in the state’s primary election, and not in November, turnout could be low. So there might be real value in Obama speaking out and drawing attention to what’s at stake in two weeks.

Beyond that, the president could be of particularly help with two particular groups of voters: Young people and African-Americans.

The newest data from PPP explains why. Overall, PPP found, Amendment One is favored by voters, 54 to 40 percent. Every age group supports its passage, except those between 18 and 29 years old, who are against it by a 62-31 percent spread. This is consistent with national polling, which has consistently found that young voters are by far the most progressive on gay marriage. The question is how many young voters will turn out on May 8; if Obama (who is also more popular with the 18-to-29 crowd than with other age groups) were to raise his voice, this number might spike.

African-Americans, on the other hand, now favor Amendment One by 51-39 percent. This actually represents a pronounced shift from last month, when PPP measured black support for the ban at 61 percent. For Amendment One to fail, this number needs to keep falling, something Obama could encourage by speaking out.

There’s another side to this, though. If Obama were to enter the fray, it could turn the May 8 vote into a referendum on the president, allowing Amendment One supporters to scream about White House meddling and encouraging swing voters who aren’t thrilled with Obama to express their disapproval by voting “yes.”

From Obama’s reelection angle, it’s also a mixed bag. Sure, by speaking out, he’d probably energize many of the young voters who’ve soured on him since ’08; this is one of the reasons for his student loan push. But how many older swing voters who aren’t comfortable with gay marriage would he turn off? It’s true that Amendment One is about far more than gay marriage, but that doesn’t mean voters will understand it that way. Obama’s winning margin over John McCain in North Carolina in 2008 was microscopic – less than half a point, or about 14,000 votes. And that was under optimal conditions for a Democratic presidential candidate.

Support for Amendment One seems to be slipping. According to PPP, the more voters hear about it, the less comfortable they are with it. So it may still be defeated, even with Obama largely on the sidelines. Still, if the politics of 2012 make him unwilling to forcefully speak out against a regressive effort to ban civil unions, then it’s hard to believe he’ll be comfortable taking a progressive stand for marriage equality any time soon.

Steve Kornacki

Steve Kornacki writes about politics for Salon. Reach him by email at SKornacki@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @SteveKornacki More Steve Kornacki.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 16 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

War Room is our political news and commentary blog, with coverage and commentary throughout the day.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations