Majority of voters in 12 of the most conservative seats back marriage equality

THE majority of voters living in some of Australia’s most conservative electorates are pro-same sex marriage, according to a recent poll.

A ReachTel poll of 12 Coalition seats commissioned by Australians for Equality found that more than 50 per cent of voters in all 12 seats said ‘yes’ when asked if same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

The seats polled included Bowman, Brisbane, Cook, Fisher, Goldstein, Moncrieff, New England, Pearce, Petrie, Robertson, Swan, and North Sydney.

Of the 12 seats polled there were four held by cabinet ministers with around 700 people polled in each seat.

In the seat of New England, 50.5 per cent of voters backed same-sex marriage, while 56.2 per cent of voters in the seat of Cook believed the law change should be enacted.

In the seat of Pearce, 52 per cent of people backed same-sex marriage while in Moncrieff a major 61.2 per cent of voters backed legislating marriage equality.

In Tim Wilson’s Victorian electorate of Goldstein 77.1 per cent of respondents backed same-sex marriage with only 17.1 per cent opposed to it.

And in Brisbane 67.5 per cent of voters backed marriage equality.

In a report by The Age, Australians for Equality director Tiernan Brady said the poll reflected what he and his team had been seeing in town hall meetings around the country.

“This won’t go away, this doesn’t need to be a political football, a clear majority of voters in every party want this,” he said.

Australian Marriage Equality co-chair Alex Greenwich said the poll represented the strongest support the country had seen for marriage equality in Coalition-held seats.

“Whether their MP is a supporter or an opponent of marriage equality, the strong message from constituents is that they want their MP to have a vote on the floor of parliament this year,” he said.