IOWA POLL: Most GOP Primary Voters Want Marriage Repeal On Ballot

A poll of GOP primary voters in Iowa shows that while most want gay marriage put to a public referendum, 45% say it's not worth voting out the judges that approved it.

A large majority of Iowa Republican primary voters say Iowans should have a chance to vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, according to the latest Des Moines Register Iowa Poll. More than three-quarters of Iowans planning to vote in Tuesday’s Republican primary say Iowans should have a chance to vote on changing the constitution specifically to ban gay marriage. But the same consensus does not exist for ousting Iowa Supreme Court judges who voted last year to invalidate Iowa’s statutory ban on same-sex marriage. And one-third of the poll respondents say that some Iowans have overreacted on the issue, and that gay marriage in the state is just not that big a deal. The issue erupted in April 2009, when the state high court unanimously struck down the 1998 law.

Marriage can only be repealed in Iowa after the legislature has approved a public referendum in two consecutive years. So far Democratic legislators have blocked debate on the issue, so the earliest we could possibly see a repeal vote is November 2012.