| Obama's Support of Gay Marriage Could Prove An Issue in Swing States |
| May-11-2012 |
| Keywords: obama, gay marriage, swing states, problem |
President Obama on Wednesday formally announced his support for gay marriage. A position that has evolved since his initial run for high-office.
Some are characterizing his announcement as courageous and a calculated risk. Others are questioning his motives and timing as he heads off to a Hollywood fundraiser hosted by actor George Clooney.
Doug Schoen, a regular guest on Lou Dobbs Tonight, says that president's new position on gay marriage could cost him among swing-state voters.
To be sure, this announcement was a political move for the Obama 2012 reelection campaign which is now aggressively seeking to use his endorsement to mobilize a major grassroots get-out-the-vote initiative and energize huge swaths of the party's liberal and progressive base, as well as young people and independent voters, many of whom back gay marriage.
And with the Obama reelection campaign increasingly relying on donations form the gay community in its fundraising efforts, publicly declaring his support for gay marriage hours before he headed to Hollywood Thursday night for a fundraiser at the home of A-list actor George Clooney was a strategic and shrewdly timed move by Mr. Obama.
But Schoen also points out that president's news position, summoned to the forefront by VP Joe Biden's comments over the weekend, is problematic for the campaign when it comes to swing-state voters.
Put simply, the issue of gay marriage remains highly contentious in a number of swing states: a majority of voters in North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and Florida continue to be against same sex marriage.
The state-by-state data from polling conducted by Public Policy Polling show that a majority of voters in key swing-states like Virginia (53%-34%), Florida (53%-37%), North Carolina (61%-31%), Wisconsin (50%-30%) and Ohio (52%-32%) oppose the legalization of gay marriage.
And according to a recent Pew poll, one in three Southern swing voters are strongly opposed to gay marriage.
Read more of Schoen's article on FOXNews.com: Obama's gay marriage endorsement could cost him with crucial swing voters |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 6:00 PM Email to a friend |
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