Michigan Independents Cold to Obama's Marriage Stance

A new poll of Michigan voters shows that four in 10 independents are less likely to vote for President Barack Obama because of his support for marriage equality.

MLive reports on the results of the poll conducted by Lambert, Edwards & Associates and Denno Research. The survey of 600 likely voters found that 17% of independents were supportive of the president's marriage equality position, and 41% were less likely to vote for him because of the issue.

Obama won Michigan in 2008 by almost 17 points, but recent polls indicate a dead heat with Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, who grew up in the state, where his father was governor.

Other findings of the survey reflect the results of an Associated Press-GfK poll released last week, which showed that voters were largely unmoved by the president's announcement, except for core supporters and opponents. "Fifty-six percent of Democrats said they were more likely to vote for the Democratic president" in the new poll of Michigan voters, according to MLive. "Seventy-one percent of Republicans said they were less likely."

Despite independents' cold reception to the president's marriage equality stance, the poll found that two thirds of the voters support the effort to amend the state's civil rights law to include protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. Legislation failed to advance two years ago, and it appears less likely now that Republicans control both chambers of the state legislature.