African-Americans voted 2-1 in favor of the North Carolina amendment banning gay marriage Tuesday, but the White House is betting that black voters there and beyond will stick with the president, despite broad resistance to legalization.
While there’s faith that African-Americans will turn out strong at the polls to protect Obama’s legacy, pollsters point out that while opposition to same-sex marriages has fallen in the black community, it’s still just a point shy of 50 percent — enough to affect black turnout, at least theoretically, in an election where every vote will matter.
Obama’s statement rocked the political world. But it also underscored a widely held belief that African-American voters are closer to Republicans than Democrats when it comes to gay marriage.
“A lot of the people that I have spoken to that are self-identified Democrats are completely and totally against gay marriage — they believe it’s a sin,” said Michelle Bernard, president of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics and Public Policy.
In North Carolina in 2008, black turnout was the engine that propelled Obama to a key swing-state victory; the president captured over 95 percent of that vote, according to exit polls. On Tuesday, however, reports from North Carolina indicate a majority of black voters cast ballots for Amendment 1, defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman, and effectively nullifying the rights of same-sex partners.
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