Cruising around the internets this morning, I was surprised to find this recent poll out of Arizona:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0929poll29.html
According to a recent survey of 390 registered Arizona voters, support for a constitutional ban on same sex marriage garnered a meager 33%. Opposition to the ban came in at 60%, with only 7% undecided.
We all know that with same-sex marriage, it's only a matter of time. In spite of the signficant losses suffered during the 2004 election, it was obvious to anyone paying attention that this was not a tenable fight for the consevative movement. Even with the best state organzing and a stranglehold on all of the levers of federal government, conservatives would see their support on this issue submit to the inevitable demographic changes. What is surprising though, is just how quickly things seem to be shifting course.
Arizona, while not a died-in-the-wool red state on par with Mississippi, Utah, and Kentucky (three of the 11 states that passed gay marriage bans in 2004:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/02/ballot.samesex.marriage/), is pretty reliably conservative. This, coupled with recent gains in California and Massachusetts, suggests that maybe people are coming around around a little more quickly than expected. And what a welcome sign that is.