Poll shows greater support for domestic partnerships in Wash. State (video)

From On Top:

Proponents of a gay-inclusive domestic partnership law in Washington State have carved out a 17 point lead against an effort to repeal the law, a new poll finds.

The Greenberg Quinlan Rosner (GQR) poll of 500 likely voters found 53% of respondents support the law and 36% oppose it, with the remainder undecided.

Opponents of the “everything but marriage” law approved by lawmakers in the spring collected 138,000 signatures to put the law up for a vote.

But with five days to Election Day, proponents of Referendum 71 are not taking anything for granted. They say the voter demographic of an off-year election does not favor them.

“[We know] that in an off-year election, older, more conservative voters turn out in greater numbers,” Washington Families Standing Together Chairwoman Anne Levinson said in a statement.

Support for the gay partner law has increased since the same firm released its last results. In September, the measure lead 51 to 44 percent.

If approved, Referendum 71 would extend a 2007 domestic partnership law for a second time, granting gay and lesbian couples all the remaining state-provided rights, benefits and responsibilities of marriage.

Opponents, however, have a steep incline to overcome; poll numbers aside, they've managed to raise only a fraction of the money proponents have amassed. Washington Families says it has raised $780,000 to keep the law, while donations to Protect Marriage, whose members favor repeal, total $60,000.

Protect Marriage says the domestic partnership law is unlawful because it violates a 1998 gay marriage ban approved by legislators and ruled constitutional by the state's Supreme Court.

Stephen Colbert also weighs in on the subject: