New Study Shows Prop. 8 Success “Not Personal” --

If you live in California and are a Republican, attend church at least once a week, hold socially conservative views, and are 65-years-old or older, you most likely voted "Yes" on Proposition 8 to repeal marriage equality for your gay and lesbian neighbors. In addition, you are most likely male and probably even know someone, or are related to someone, who is gay or lesbian—but you still supported Prop 8.

Those are the four voter characteristics – party affiliation, religiosity, political ideology and age – that played the most significant role in the passage of Prop 8 last November according to a new study released by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. (full report pdf is there)

"These variables had bigger effects and were more important than other voter characteristics that have received a lot of attention such as race, gender or personal knowledge of lesbian and gay men," said Patrick Egan, Ph.D., an assistant professor of politics at New York University and one of the co-authors of the study. ...

Knowing a gay or lesbian person, the study found, had little impact on how people voted.

"Partisanship and ideology trump the impact of knowing an LGBT person," said Sherrill. "For example, about two-thirds of California's conservatives said they knew or were related to someone who is LGBT, and about four out of five of them voted for the referendum. Among conservatives who didn't know an LGBT person, four out of five persons also voted for the referendum."

The pattern held for Republicans with four out of five voting for the referendum whether they knew gay and lesbian people or not. ...

"It wasn't personal" doesn't help when it comes to rights and equality -- Personal views are deeply informed by all of the "not personal" factors cited as being more important -- and when it comes to a vote or an election even more so.