Polls: Same Sex Split, Rudy Creeping Up

We expect the houses of New York's state legislature to remain divided on gay marriage, and funnily enough that's how our citizens stand on it: a Quinnipiac poll shows a 42-42 percentage split on gay marriage among state residents. Still, it's an advance over 2004, when the same poll found New Yorkers 55 to 37 percent against it. And at least it's enlightened discrimination: by 63 to 32 percent, Quinnipiac says, New Yorkers reject the argument that same-sex marriage is a threat to traditional marriage. A majority of the Jesus people, Catholics and Protestants, oppose marriage equality, and those who go to church a lot oppose it more, but Jews go for it. Blacks, Latinos, men, and Republicans oppose gay marriage; white people, women, and Democrats favor it. Residents of New York City provide a surprisingly small margin in favor -- 49 to 43. Come on, folks, this is supposed to be Gay City! Gay up!

Another Quinnipiac poll shows Governor Paterson doing lousy (61 percent disapproval), which is no shock anymore. What is surprising is that, in a speculative post-Paterson match-up, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani only trails Andrew Cuomo by six points, versus the 16-point lead Cuomo had in a poll last month. While Cuomo's been busting his ass indicting fraudsters, Giuliani's been waving to the crowd and opposing gay marriage. Maybe an increasing number of voters don't want their Governor to work too hard.