What Obama Has Wrought

Support for Maryland's marriage equality referendum is up 12 points. The reason:

The movement over the last two months can be explained almost entirely by a major shift in opinion about same-sex marriage among black voters. Previously 56% said they would vote against the new law with only 39% planning to uphold it. Those numbers have now almost completely flipped, with 55% of African Americans planning to vote for the law and only 36% now opposed.

The result is that current polling shows marriage equality leading in the referendum polls by 57 – 37 percent. Now we know polls have over-read support for marriage equality in the past – but 20 points is a very big margin to overcome.

The magnitude of what Obama has done is getting more and more tangible. He has gone from JFK to LBJ on civil rights in three years. And bridging the divide between gays and African-Americans will help both communities, and especially those who are gay and black. This kind of defusing of polarization is what many of us hoped for in Obama. On this issue, he has delivered. And how.