New poll: Iowans not amused by gay marriage: (52-41) or impeachment of judges: (55-38) or incoming Gov. Branstad: (46-41)

Public Policy Polling just surveyed 1077 Iowans about gay marriage, impeachment of Iowa's Supreme Court Judges, and their approval of Iowa's incoming governor. Here is the press release:

Majority of Iowans oppose gay marriage but also impeachment 

Raleigh, N.C. – After successfully campaigning to get three of them ousted from office by election last fall, Republicans in Iowa are now campaigning to get the remaining four justices who voted to legalize gay marriage in the state booted by impeachment.  But a majority of Iowans think that move inappropriate, despite the fact that a majority also do not favor same-sex marriage itself.

     52% think same-sex marriage should not be legal, as it is now in the Hawkeye State, with 41% supporting the new status quo. It is mainly Republicans driving the animosity.  82% of them think same-sex marriage should be illegal, but two-thirds of Democrats are on the legal side, with independents splitting just 46-44 toward it being illegal. 

     On the impeachment issue, however, Republicans are not as gung-ho as some of their state legislators are. Still twice (60%) as many of them favor impeachment as oppose it, but that is far below the 82-10 margin of Republicans who oppose same-sex marriage itself.  

      Overall, 55% of Iowa voters oppose impeachment, and only 38% support it. At 54-38 against, independents mirror the overall electorate, while Democrats’ 79-16 margin against impeachment approaches Republicans’ fervor against equal marriage rights. 

     “This is one of those classic issues where voters agree with Republicans but don’t want the party to overplay its hand,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling.  “They’re on the same page with wanting same sex marriage to be illegal, but they think it’s going too far to impeach the judges who made the ruling to legalize it.”

     Despite defeating Chet Culver and returning to office by a 53-43 margin in November, Terry Branstad is no more popular than his predecessor. Iowans disapprove of Culver’s four-year record, 41-46, but they are also down on Branstad, 40-44.  The two post almost identical numbers with independents, and are equally polarizing across party lines.  

     Chuck Grassley is now the sixth most popular of 74 senators whose job performance ratings have been gauged by PPP in the last year, with a 54-31 approval mark. Junior colleague Tom Harkin is far below Grassley, but still quite healthy, at a 48-38 grade. 

PPP surveyed 1,077 Iowa voters from January 7th to 9th, 2011.

The survey’s margin of error is  +/-3.0%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and weighting, may introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify.