Washington, DC — Freedom to Marry and Third Way released a memo March 5 showing that state legislators who vote in favor of marriage for same-sex couples overwhelmingly win voter support when running for reelection.
Based on election results in the two states that passed freedom to marry laws in the 2011-2012 legislative cycle and whose members stood for reelection — New York and Washington — the analysis, “Pro-Marriage Legislators Win Elections,” finds that pro-marriage legislators who ran for reelection won 97% of the time. This is significantly higher than the national incumbent re-election average of 90% in 2012.
Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry, said: “Polls have shown that a growing majority of Americans support ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage — and now we know that Americans vote that way at the polls, too. Lawmakers who cast votes for the freedom to marry get voted back in — and on both side of the aisle. Elected officials can vote for the freedom to marry and be on the right side of history, secure that supporting the freedom to marry is not only the right vote to cast; it’s also the politically smart vote to take.”
Post-election polling in Washington state shows that self-described moderates are more than two times more inclined to vote for a candidate who supports the freedom to marry than one who opposes the freedom to marry. A full 86% of self-described moderates said that a state legislator’s vote for the freedom to marry either made them more inclined to support the legislator (30%) or made no difference (56%). Only 14% said their support made them less likely to support the legislator. Support for the freedom to marry has increased across political lines in recent years. A Feb. 2013 poll by CBS News found that 54% of Americans supported allowing same-sex couples to legally marry.