Poll Shows Minnesotans Divided Over Marriage Amendment

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll shows Minnesotans are about evenly divided over a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

Six weeks before Election Day, 49 percent of the likely voters polled supported the proposed amendment, while 47 percent opposed it. The two-point difference is within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Four percent of those polled said they were undecided.

The poll surveyed 800 likely voters between Sept. 17 and 19.

Minnesota law requires constitutional amendments to be approved by a majority of all ballots cast. Voters who skip the question are counted as votes against it.

Minnesota law forbids same-sex marriage, but amendment supporters say the change is needed to prevent judges or legislators from changing the law later to legalize it.

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