Bob Collins
The results of a new Pew survey on President Obama’s new position on same-sex marriage is certainly challenging the headline writers to pick a statistic.
“Half Say View of Obama Not Affected by Gay Marriage Decision” is the headline Pew went with and that certainly is true, according to the survey.
It’s also true that 25 percent of those surveyed view Obama less favorably.
In both cases, it doesn’t really tell us much other than people who were more likely to vote for Obama for re-election are OK with his statements last week, and those who were are less likely to vote for him aren’t happy.
Of course it’s also true that popular vote polls are fairly irrelevant in presidential politics, because that’s not the way we elect presidents. There is no geographic breakdown of this particular poll and until we see specific polls from swing states, it’s fairly impossible to judge what effect the same-sex marriage issue might have on November’s vote.
