Poll: Over half of voters in Arizona want to legalise equal marriage
A new poll has found that over half of voters in the US state of Arizona are in favour of allowing same-sex couples to marry.
The poll found that 55% of Arizonans were in favour of equal marriage, with 35% opposed and 10% were unsure.
Voters most in favour of such a measure were women, Latinos, liberals, moderates, Independents, Democrats, and voters under the age of 55.
Republicans in the state were divided over the issue, with 36% in favour and 53% opposed. The poll found that out of those who identify as conservative, 41% supported and 51% opposed equal marriage.
The state has since 1996, defined marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman, and in 2008, voters approved a constitutional amendment to define it as such.
The amendment reads that “only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.”
The poll, released Tuesday, was conducted between April 3 and April 16, and is based on 700 telephone interviews statewide, including 438 registered voters.
The survey’s overall margin of error is plus or minus 3.8 percent.
A southern Arizona City Council was recently threatened with a lawsuit by the state Attorney General’s office for passing legislation to allow civil unions for same-sex couples, and has put the legislation on hold to tweak it in order for it to fit with the state’s ban on equal marriage.
