8/7/2019 NH Polling Memo

1/4

February 9, 2011

New Hampshire Voters Strongly OpposeRepealing the Law that Allows Gay and LesbianCouples to MarryFindings from a survey of New Hampshire voters

To: Interested Parties

rom: Anna Greenberg and Missy EgelskyF

In the wake of the change in leadership in the state legislature, there has been an active effort

to repeal the law that allows gay and lesbian couples in New Hampshire to marry. Our recentsurvey, however, shows that Granite State voters strongly support marriage for gay and lesbiancouples and strongly oppose overturning the law. Nine out of ten voters across the politicalspectrum want the state legislature to focus on economic, not social, issues. The followingmemo is based on a survey of 622 New Hampshire voters1 conducted between January 30thand February 3rd, 2011. It carries a margin of error of +/- 3.9 points.

Strong Support for Marriage for Gay and Lesbian Couples

Overall, 59 percent of New Hampshire voters support allowing same sex couples to marry and63 percent oppose a bill that would eliminate marriage for gay and lesbian couples. Equally as

important, there is a major intensity gap with much stronger opposition (49 percent stronglyoppose) to overturning the law than support (23 percent strongly support) for this effort.Governor John Lynch has already stated that he would veto this legislation and the votersstrongly support that move 59 percent favor this veto (48 percent strongly support).

Washington, DC Seattle London Buenos Aires

www.greenbergresearch.com

1This includes a statewide representative sample of 525 registered voters, with an oversample of 97

voters in the Manchester, Salem, and Nashua area.

8/7/2019 NH Polling Memo

2/4

New Hampshire Survey Results 2

2011 Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, All Rights Reserved. February, 2011

Figure 1: Strong Support for Marriage for Gay and Lesbian Couples

42

27

0

20

40

60

80

Support Oppose

Strongly support Somewhat supportStrongly oppose Somewhat oppose

As you may know, New Hampshire legalized marriagebetween gay and lesbian couples in 2009. Do youpersonally support or oppose the New Hampshire lawthat allows gay and lesbian couples to legally marry?

59

23

49

0

20

40

60

80

Favor Oppose

Strongly favor Somewhat favorStrongly oppose Somewhat oppose

As you may know, some legislators plan to introduce

bills this year that would eliminate marriage for gaycouples in New Hampshire. Do you favor or opposebills that would eliminate marriage for gay couples inNew Hampshire?

34 29

63+25 +34

Opposition to Repeal Crosses Partisan and Demographic Lines

Support for marriage for gay and lesbian couples garners support across demographic andpartisan lines. Not surprisingly, 88 percent of Democrats oppose overturning the law, but so do66 percent of independents and 35 percent of Republicans. While it is not a surprise thatyounger voters oppose overturning the law, a near majority of senior citizens (49 percentoppose, 44 percent favor) also oppose it. Two-thirds of moms and 53 percent of dads opposechanging the law. Geographically, majorities of voters in every part of the stateincluding moreconservative and Republican-leaning voters in Manchester, Salem, Nashua and surroundingtownsoppose repealing the law.

8/7/2019 NH Polling Memo

3/4

New Hampshire Survey Results 3

2011 Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, All Rights Reserved. February, 2011

Figure 2: Opposition to Repeal Crosses Demographic Lines

16

51

78

49

22

60

20

40

60

80

100

Favor Oppose Favor Oppose Favor Oppose

Strongly favor Somewhat favorStrongly oppose Somewhat oppose

As you may know, some legislators plan to introduce bills this year that would eliminate marriage for gay couples in

New Hampshire. Do you favor or oppose bills that would eliminate marriage for gay couples in New Hampshire?

8

88

24

6657

35

Democrats Independents Republicans

+80 +42 +22

Support for Marriage for Gay and Lesbian Couples despite Conservative PoliticalEnvironment

In 2010, the Republicans picked up 133 seats in the state legislature, as well as retained theU.S. Senate seat and recaptured both U.S. House seats. In this survey, a generic Republicanlegislative candidate wins by 5 points, 44 to 39 percent. Despite this conservative environment,most Granite State voters strongly oppose repealing the law; when asked about the impact of avote in favor of eliminating the law, 30 percent said it would make them LESS likely to supporttheir state legislator, 19 percent said it would make them MORE likely to support their statelegislator, while 48 percent say other issues are more important to their vote.

Voters Prefer the Governor and Legislature to Focus on Economic Issues

Overall, most Granite State voters would prefer that the legislature focus on pressing problemssuch as the economy and the budget deficit. When asked about the two most importantpriorities for the Governor and the state legislature, fully 60 percent said jobs and the economywhile 4 percent said gay marriage. Fully 92 percent of voters believe that the statesleadership should focus on economic issues over social issues like gay marriage and abortion.Here again, the preference for focusing on economic issues over social issues crosses partisanand demographic lines. Even 96 percent of Republicans would prefer a focus on the economy.

8/7/2019 NH Polling Memo

4/4

New Hampshire Survey Results

2011 Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, All Rights Reserved. February, 2011

4

Figure 3: Voters Prefer a Focus on Economic Issues

92 90 9096

3 3 4 20

20

40

60

80

100

All voters Democrats Independents Republicans

Economic IssuesSocial Issues

Which do you think that the Governor and state legislature should focus more on --

economic issues like government spending, the budget deficit, and jobs, or socialissues like gay marriage and abortion?

Party Identification