Constitutional amendments trailing in latest PPP survey

News release regarding PPP poll -- take with a grain of salt.

PPP's final Minnesota poll of the 2012 election cycle finds Barack Obama leading comfortably, 53-45. We've conducted four surveys of the state since Labor Day and found Obama leading by a margin in the 7-10 point range on each of them.
Obama doesn't have great approval numbers in the state, with 49% of voters giving him good marks to 45% who disapprove. But voters aren't big on Romney either with 43% rating him favorably to 49% who have a negative view of him. Obama's winning thanks in particular to large margins with women (58/39) and voters under 30 (71/27).
The more interesting findings on our final Minnesota poll deal with the state's high profile amendments to ban gay marriage and require voter identification. We find both narrowly trailing. 45% of voters say they'll vote for the gay marriage ban, compared to 52% who are opposed to it. And 46% say they'll support the voter ID amendment to 51% who are opposed. Public opinion has shifted against both of these measures in the last month. In early October voters were only against the marriage ban 46/49 and they supported the voter ID question 51/43.
The marriage amendment is trailing because of a massive generational divide. Seniors support it by a 57/40 margin but every other age group opposes it, including a 36/62 margin against it among voters under 30. Republicans support it (79%) and Democrats oppose it (76%) in almost equal numbers, but independents tip the balance by opposing it 41/55.
The reason the voter ID amendment now appears to be in serious trouble is that Democrats (82%) are just as opposed to it as Republicans (82%) are supportive of it. We've found Republicans strongly supportive of the concept all year, but Democrats have moved sharply against it from 36% support in June to now just 14%. And independents have shifted over the last five months from being very much in favor (58/35) to evenly divided (49/49).
The Minnesota Senate race is no contest, with Amy Klobuchar leading Kurt Bills 62-32. She's one of the most popular Senators in the country with a 60/26 approval spread, and Bills still has only 50% name recognition even with just 48 hours remaining before the election.
This analysis is also available on our website:
 
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/11/obama-up-8-in-minnesota-amendments-may-be-going-down.html
 
A press release and full crosstabs are attached-
 
Thanks,
 
Tom
 
Tom Jensen
Director, Public Policy Polling
919-744-6312/tomj@publicpolicypolling.com