Pennsylvania Miscellany

-PPP's found a net 14 point increase in support for gay marriage in Pennsylvania over the last year and a half. Voters in the state are now almost evenly divided on the issue with 45% thinking it should be legal and 47% believing it should continue to be illegal. In November of 2011 we found only 36% support and 52% opposition for gay marriage among Keystone State voters. Seniors continue to be opposed to gay marriage by a 28/62 margin, but voters under 45 support it 58/35, suggesting that it's only a matter of time.

Civil unions for same sex couples are pretty uncontroversial now with voters in the state. 74% support either gay marriage or civil unions with only 24% of voters opposed to any sort of legal recognition for gay couples. Even among Republicans there's 68% support for one or the other.

-Pennsylvanians support an assault weapons ban by a 52/39 margin. It has majority support from independents, and even 36% of Republicans support it. Voters in the state favor stronger gun laws in general by a 53/41 margin, and by a 42/43 margin have an unfavorable opinion of the NRA.

-Bob Casey is Pennsylvania's most popular politician with a net +9 approval rating at 45/36. That makes him a good deal more well liked than junior colleague Pat Toomey who's at -3 with 34% of voters approving of him and 37% disapproving. Voters in the state are evenly divided in their feelings about Barack Obama- 48% approve and 48% disapprove.

-Looking towards 2016 Hillary Clinton would be an overwhelming favorite in the state- she leads Paul Ryan (52/40), Marco Rubio (52/37), and Rick Santorum (55/38) all by double digit margins. Santorum is not popular in his home state, with 42% of voters rating him favorably to 46% with a negative opinion. That compares pretty unfavorably to Clinton's 55/35 in the state.

Santorum manages only a tie for fourth when it comes to who GOP voters in the state would like to see as their 2016 candidate. Chris Christie leads the way with 20% to 17% for Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, 10% for Santorum and Jeb Bush, 9% for Mike Huckabee, 6% for Paul Ryan, 4% for Bobby Jindal, and 1% for Rick Perry. Paul's doing much better than we've found in most of our 2016 polling other places, suggesting that his filibuster last week might have done him some good.

One other note related to the 2016 race in Pennsylvania- by a 44/38 margin voters think the state should continue giving all its electoral votes to the statewide winner, as opposed to divvying them up by Congressional District.

Full results here