Perkins: WaPo's Marriage Poll Is A Lie

"The Washington Post thought it knew where the American people stood on marriage. Just two days ago, news outlets were plastering its poll results of 'record' backing for same-sex 'marriage' on their websites--only to see the support vanish as quickly as it appeared. Today, the Reuters Corporation released the results of an even bigger poll than the Post's and found that only 41% of America supports the case being made by Ted Olson and David Boies at the Supreme Court. In an astonishingly large survey sample, 24,455 people (23,000 more than the Washington Post's survey!), barely four out of 10 Americans thought homosexuals should be allowed to 'marry.'

"Those numbers are far and away more consistent with the findings of trustworthy survey houses in the last few months on marriage. It also shows the unreliability of the media's polling. In 48 hours, we've seen a 17-point swing in public opinion on marriage. Of course, as we mentioned yesterday, the Post's questions were specifically structured to generate a more favorable response. When you frame the debate as the Post did--in criminal terms--Americans are far more wary of opposing same-sex 'marriage'. - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, via press release.

Here's what that Reuters survey actually says:

Fifty-five percent of those surveyed said married gay and lesbian couples should be able to qualify for Social Security survivor payments and other benefits provided to married heterosexual couples, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling of 2,886 people between March 5 and March 14. Reuters/Ipsos poll of 24,455 people between January 1 and March 14 found only a quarter of Americans opposed same-sex marriage or civil unions, although there were deep regional differences of opinion. Overall, that Reuters poll found 63 percent supported gay marriage or civil unions, with 41 percent of people saying same-sex couples should be permitted to marry.

The greatest support was in the Northeast, with 69 percent of adults favoring a gay marriage or civil-union right. The lowest support was in the South, at 57 percent. Overall, surveys have shown a drop in endorsement of civil unions simultaneous to a rise in support of same-sex marriage. The support for equal federal benefits in the Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests a majority of people, regardless of their views on the marriage question, believe the federal government should not discriminate among couples based on sexual orientation.

Since you can't get federal benefits without marriage, the real result of the Reuters survey is that 55% figure, which almost exactly matches the 58% reported by the Washington Post.