Poll: Tiny number of New Jerseyans support NOM's true agenda

« Go back a post || Return to G-A-Y homepage || Haul tail to next post »

08/08/2011

by Jeremy Hooper

The National Organization For Marriage is currently touting this PPP poll out of Jersey:

SOURCE: NOM Blog

Okay, so first and foremost: Civil unions are never going to work and are always in eventual need of a full upgrade. There is no way we LGBT taxpayers and our allies in the equality fight are ever going to accept a separate system. Period. It's a non-starter, and this poll shows that a larger portion of New Jerseyans (where civil unions have been in effect for four years) get that fact, even if the percentage willing to accept the separate system is still way too high.

But the larger point, in terms of NOM: This polling data, even as the staff has clipped it for best blog presentation, is horrible news for Gallagher and Brown's anti-equality road show. Because the fact of the matter is that NOM supports nothing but a full shut out. Civil unions are not an okay compromise for this group. Ever. When it comes down to it, NOM leaders alway claim that civil unions are just a stepping stone to full marriage, then proceed to oppose a C.U. proposal on these grounds. So looking back at the above data: The NOM contingent is only that tiny 17% in the "no recognition" category. So why is this something NOM staffers are pushing as if it's a good thing?

As I've opined before: NOM is playing the politics of "just enough," hoping that the hyper motivation of few will win against a more scattered, harder-to-rally opposition. And that's a smart game, as far as these cynical games go. But still: Only 17% in support of NOM's true agenda versus the 81% who support that which NOM organizationally opposes (marriage and/or civil unions)? Maybe for a little while, this "just enough" strategy will work in places like NJ. Though in the long run, I think it's going to be easier for Snooki to mine 30 minutes out of her own Jersey contract than it will be for a NOM staffer to spin 17% into sustainable capital.

space