A SURVEY of The Standard’s readers has found a majority support gay marriage, in line with national and international surveys.
The online poll was intended to gauge the views of south-west residents in response to Premier and South West Coast member Denis Napthine’s assertion last week that he and his “electorate are very happy with the current situation”.
The Standard’s survey suggests otherwise and while it was impossible to tell how many, if any, of the 541 respondents were not from the south-west, the 57.1 per cent supporting gay marriage is consistent with national and international figures.
According to The Australian, a Galaxy poll last year found 64 per cent of Australians sampled supported gay marriage, while in Britain, recent surveys found 55 per cent supported gay marriage. In the US, a Washington Post/ABC News poll put the figure at 58 per cent, although the notoriously conservative Fox News did its own poll, which still yielded a surprisingly-high result of 49 per cent. Respondents in The Standard survey were asked why they supported or opposed gay marriage.
Many of those supporting same-sex marriage listed human rights and equality as their reason, while many of those opposing it mentioned God or the Bible.
But a belief in God or the Bible did not predicate opposition to same-sex marriage, with 56.9 per cent of respondents identifying themselves as Christian.
A further 41 per cent identified as not religious. The survey also asked respondents “if the federal election were happening today, who would you vote for?”.
The Liberals received 36.4 per cent of approval on the poll and Labor attracted 20.1 per cent. The Greens got 14 per cent, the Nationals 2.6 per cent, while 26.8 per cent of respondents said they didn’t know.
Dr Napthine did not return The Standard’s calls yesterday.
Author: Matt Neal
Publication: The Standard
Publication Date: April 5, 2013