Support for Gay Marriage On the Rise in Pennsylvania

Despite yesterday’s bummer (albeit expected) news that a South Philly gay couple was denied a marriage license at City Hall, there’s still reason to be hopeful. I just came across this refreshing article on CBS Philly, in which an analyst — named Madonna, thank you — reports that support for marriage equality continues to be on the rise in our state:

“Fifty-four percent of Pennsylvanian’s now support gay marriage,” says Terry Madonna, political science professor and pollster at Franklin and Marshall College. He says roughly 70-percent of young voters believe in marriage equality and the older voters who do not support it are not as strongly opposed as they once were.

He says movement on laws allowing marriage equality has reached a stalemate for two reasons: lawmakers are more conservative than voters and voters do not see gay marriage as a defining issue.

“Voters are still deeply concerned about jobs and the economy and because of recent cuts, education has emerged as the number one policy issue in the state,” says Madonna.