Poll: Marriage a vote winner

Poll: Marriage a vote winner

Marriage equality advocates have sent all Labor Party National Conference delegates a list of electorates where the party would pick up tens of thousands of votes by voting in support of marriage equality on Saturday.

The list is based on Galaxy Research polling from October which shows a swing of up to 7.3 percent – the equivalent of over 1.1 million votes – to Labor if it supports marriage equality, including many existing Green voters.

The list is in response to a letter sent to delegates by the Australian Christian Lobby which claims Labor will lose votes in key marginal seats if it supports same-sex marriage.

Australian Marriage Equality national convener Alex Greenwich described the ACL figures as “shonky”.

“The ACL has calculated how many people signed its petition from marginal Labor-held seats and then claimed this means these key seats are threatened, but it failed to indicate which way the people signing its petition will vote,” he said.

“It’s fair to assume most people who sign Christian lobby petitions have no intention of ever voting Labor no matter what its stance on marriage equality may be.”

Greenwich said the Galaxy-based figures provide a far more reliable measure of the electoral impact of Labor support for marriage equality.

“We know for a fact that Labor will pick up Green voters, particularly young ones, if it supports marriage equality,” he said.

“When we look at the swing electorate-by-electorate we see that labor can expect to tighten its hold on a large number of seats, and potentially win seats like Melbourne, Wentworth and Adelaide.

“Marriage equality is clearly an electoral winner for Labor.”

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6 responses to “Poll: Marriage a vote winner”

  1. My partner and I switched to Greens from Labor due to their marriage stance. We know others who did the same. Our labor seat is now marginally held by labor and very close to going to the greens.

  2. Many people would be shocked to read the following June 2004 comments by Julia Gillard when she was on the PR trail to spruke the August 13th 2004 marriage ban “it’s not worth getting hot under the collar about”.
    Nothing has changed since then. She is so closed minded on the issue. She personally HELPED usher in, promote & spruke the 2004 changes to the marriage act that banned gays. If someone is so closed hearted that they can’t change their mind from 2004 to 2011, then there is no hope for her. She has to be turfed out as leader. She is not able to adapt & change with the times on this issue. She’s still stuck in the same frame of mind as she was in 2004 when she was trying to “sell” & spruke the marriage ban in the first place. Her 2004 comments are here in the following link- http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/01/1086037757556.html

  3. In the context of ongoing discussion, the same sex marriage should not be viewed as a problem of morality, religion, culture, tradition, and even sexuality. This is a human rights issue of whether an individual has the absolute right to choose a life companion regardless of relevant moral, religious, and cultural values dominating in society. Such a fundamental human right of an individual should prevail, and society must accept and protect this right of an individual.