Poll: NH Residents oppose gay marriage, though less opposition to Civil Unions

[Ian David]

CONCORD, N.H. -- New Hampshire residents oppose gay marriage but look more favorably on civil unions.

Fifty-five percent of the 600 people interviewed opposed allowing gays to marry, compared with 35 percent in favor. Ten percent weren't sure.

Asked their opinion of civil unions, 44 percent favored allowing it. Forty percent opposed civil unions and 16 percent weren't sure.

Research 2000 conducted the telephone poll for the Concord Monitor from Dec. 18-20. The margin of error was plus or minus four percentage points.

Those questioned identified themselves as regular voters.

Two proposals for the legislative session that begins next week would extend the legal rights that married couples have to gay couples in civil unions.

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The poll numbers reflect attitudes similar to those in Vermont seven years ago before that state became the first to create civil unions and extend the rights and benefits of marriage -- but not the actual name "marriage" -- to same-sex couples, pollster Del Ali told the Monitor. Ali's Maryland-based firm conducted similar polls in Vermont in the late 1990s.

"The numbers are almost identical to where Vermont was," said Ali, who called New Hampshire voters "a little more tolerant on this issue" than Americans in general.

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