There is a privately acknowledged reality for many Democratic politicians when it comes to same-sex marriage: They personally support it, but they can not publicly support it without costing themselves or their party votes. Of course, this is not true for all elected Democrats, but it's not uncommon either.
Senator Chuck Schumer has changed his public position in a very strong way, and it will be interesting to see if his Democratic colleagues follow him. One of Schumer's jobs is to help other Democrats get elected to the Senate. He is not unfamiliar with risk and the impact of popular positions. Is it possible that Schumer now views support for same-sex marriage as a political winner, or at least politically neutral?
There is growing evidence that Schumer's position is much safer now than it would have been even five years ago. A
new poll from NBC and the Wall Street Journal indicates that over the second term of President George W. Bush, support for same-sex marriage increased heavily and that trend has continued into the presidency of Barack Obama. In 2004, their poll found that Americans disapproved of same-sex marriage by a count of 62-30. The new poll finds that Americans disapprove of same-sex marriage by a margin of only eight points, 49-41.
Several questions. What happened over the second term of President George W. Bush to move the numbers so far? Is the trend going to continue or level off? And should Senators like Chuck Schumer wait for poll numbers to change before taking strong stances on issues such as this one?
The Senator's remarks are seen in the video below.
