-Voters in Massachusetts seem to be surviving the legalization of gay marriage in their state. 67% say it's had no impact on their lives, while 19% consider it to be a positive thing with only 14% claiming it's had a negative effect on them. Overall 58% of voters in the state think gay marriage should be legal, while 31% wish it was not. Bay State voters are nearly unanimous in their support for some form of legal recognition for same sex couples- 86% support either marriage or civil unions with only 12% completely opposed to anything.
-Massachusetts voters are likely to see initiatives about medical marijuana and assisted suicide on their ballots this fall and for now they lean toward supporting both of them. 53% say they would vote to legalize medical marijuana, compared to only 35% who are opposed. Voters are more evenly split on assisted suicide with 43% supporting it and 37% inclined to vote against. Both of those things break out as generational issues with seniors opposed to them but every age bracket under 65 in support.
-John Kerry (50/38) and Deval Patrick (48/37) both have solid if not spectacular approval ratings. Kerry can at least claim bragging rights over seat mate Scott Brown- 46% say Kerry's their favorite Senator to 39% for his junior colleague.
-Martha Coakley could be headed for redemption in 2014. A Suffolk poll last month found she would be the top choice of Democratic voters in the state to be their candidate for Governor next year. We find that her favorability numbers have improved greatly from right before the Senate election in 2010. Then she was at -7 (44/51), but now she's improved by 26 points to +19 (49/30). Most notably she's seen a dramatic shift from 31/63 to 49/30 with independent voters.
In a sign of how fast voters forget, 53% have no opinion about Baker just 16 months after he was on the ballot for Governor. 19% see him favorably and 27% in a negative light. Murray has a negative favorability rating at 22/31 as well, while Grossman's on positive ground at 21/15.
In the interest of full disclosure PPP has conducted polls for Democratic clients in Massachusetts
in the past, including a single tracking poll for Martha Coakley’s Attorney General
reelection campaign in 2010. However this poll was done independently and they were not involved in it.
Full results here
It is too bad that PPP can't ask follow up questions via its telephone poll. I would really love to ask that 14% what negative impact they experienced. I'd bet money that the "negative impact" is simply that they disagree with the current state of the law.
Posted by: Gerald | March 29, 2012 at 05:08 AM