http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-05-09/obama-gay-marriage-election/54866752/1

Do you think Obama's support of same sex marriage will help or hinder his campaign and opportunity for reelection come November. The opinion seems to be split at CNN. FOX news conducted a poll and not surprisingly, over 90% of voters said it would.

I don't know...I think it will help but only slightly. I could be way off base, but I think people are thinking, "It's about damn time," and not exactly singing his praises because gay marriage should have been made legal long, long ago. So Obama speaking in favor of it now is too delayed for my liking. But at least he finally did.

I don't know if it will tip the scales either way with the undecided. Same for people who've already made up their minds that they're going to vote for or against him. I'm not saying no one will be influenced but I don't think the number will be significant. Consider the source of the poll.

I think that's the only reason why he did it, it's 6 months away from the election, he needs to get in good with the voters, why else would he wait until now to speak out on it?

RedBedroom wrote:

I don't know...I think it will help but only slightly. I could be way off base, but I think people are thinking, "It's about damn time," and not exactly singing his praises because gay marriage should have been made legal long, long ago. So Obama speaking in favor of it now is too delayed for my liking. But at least he finally did.

I might add that it is basically his opinion as there is not much he can do about it except now maybe sway others' opinions. It will take the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that it violates the 14th Amendment and is in fact UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Like the Loving Vs. Virginia ruling, that would get rid of DOMA and all those discriminatory laws from the Southern & Western Backwater states.

It may have earned him some points with some and lost him some with others, but I don't think it's gonna make that much a difference ultimately. Everybody already knew he was very pro-gay....and at this point most people know who they're voting for.

Obama is for same-sex marriage? Biggest no **** moment of the year! lol Contrary to the big deal the media has made about this (in a likely effort to distract from the issues that will really matter in November), it's not gonna make much of a difference. Pro-SSM already are behind him (or at least they should have been lol) so this just comes off as Obama feeling insecure of the support of even his core base.

Shale wrote:

I might add that it is basically his opinion as there is not much he can do about it except now maybe sway others' opinions. It will take the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that it violates the 14th Amendment and is in fact UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Like the Loving Vs. Virginia ruling, that would get rid of DOMA and all those discriminatory laws from the Southern & Western Backwater states.

Those people who are against same sex marriage aren't voting for Obama anyway.
As for the Extreme court, they will vote (if it comes to it) 5 to 4 against it. About all you can do is hope one of the 5 judges dies.

I don't think it'll help. Whether or not it will hurt him remains to be seen. I say that because, from what I recall, the gay marriage debate was one of the things that helped get Bush a second term in '04.

But I agree with Marc, everyone already knew Obama was gay-friendly, but wasn't trying to alienate people by declaring a stance on this issue. I expected him to become more outspoken in his advocacy during his second term (when he couldn't suffer any repercussions for it); but apparently Biden's comments last week forced Obama to affirm his position earlier than he'd planned.

Chris wrote:

I don't think it'll help. Whether or not it will hurt him remains to be seen. I say that because, from what I recall, the gay marriage debate was one of the things that helped get Bush a second term in '04.

But I agree with Marc, everyone already knew Obama was gay-friendly, but wasn't trying to alienate people by declaring a stance on this issue. I expected him to become more outspoken in his advocacy during his second term (when he couldn't suffer any repercussions for it); but apparently Biden's comments last week forced Obama to affirm his position earlier than he'd planned.

He should've kept his mouth shut for the most part and I wished he hadn't said anything. But yeah, in retrospect....the people against it isn't going to vote for him anyway and the people who advocate it are. It was an unnecessary gamble IMO. I'd be slapping the shit out of Biden.

Now wasn't the right time for him to make this pronouncement. Even though over 50% of Americans support it in polls, the majority of states where it has come up for a vote have rejected it. What that means is most people do not care if LGBT get married somewhere else, but not in their backyard. A major blunder of inerpretation on his part; it might strenghten him in the northeast and west coast, but it will hurt him in the midwest and south. The more conservative-leaning democrats may very well turn against him and they tend to outnumber outright liberals.

I'm glad he said it. He gets the distinction of being the first president in history to endorse marriage equality. It's a credit to him IMO.

Nhaiyel wrote:

Now wasn't the right time for him to make this pronouncement. Even though over 50% of Americans support it in polls, the majority of states where it has come up for a vote have rejected it. What that means is most people do not care if LGBT get married somewhere else, but not in their backyard. A major blunder of inerpretation on his part; it might strenghten him in the northeast and west coast, but it will hurt him in the midwest and south. The more conservative-leaning democrats may very well turn against him and they tend to outnumber outright liberals.

For the most part.